As Tennessee Basketball hits the midpoint of the season with a game against Georgia on Wednesday night, it’s safe to say that the team’s scoring and playmaking have been specifically driven by two players: senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie and freshman wing Nate Ament.
When Gillespie signed with Tennessee out of the portal during the offseason, it was clear that the Vols landed themselves a play-making point guard who could step back from the three-point line and hit from the perimeter. Gillespie leads the Vols with 18.8 points per game and has done so on 42.5% shooting from the field. The Tennessee native has often been tasked with being the engine of the Vols’ offense, which can be a tall task at times, but he’s been able to make some big shots when it counts throughout the season.
Ament, meanwhile, came into the league as one of the nation’s top freshman players and a projected lottery pick in next year’s NBA Draft. While there have been some scoring ruts, especially early in conference play and against some of Tennessee’s ranked non-conference opponents, the 6-foot-10 wing has really found his stride of late. He’s averaging 16.2 points per game on the season, but his last four contests have seen him go for 17 at Florida, 23 against Texas A&M, 17 against Kentucky, and 29 at Alabama. He’s been more assertive with his shot-taking as of late, and it’s something that the Vols have needed.
It’s no surprise to see Gillespie and Ament, Tennessee’s only double-digit averaging scorers on the season, land in ESPN’s Top 50 players rankings at the midseason point.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf tagged Ament as the No. 45 player in the nation, noting his recent emergence on the court.
“We’ve been spoiled by this season’s collection of assertive freshmen who’ve made this class one of the best in recent memory. Ament, a 6-10 forward, initially stood out because we did not see a similar edge — consistently, at least — from him early,” Medcalf writes. “It seems he just needed more time to develop that confidence. Ament (21.5 points, 38% from 3 in Tennessee’s last four games entering the week) has transformed himself into one of the SEC’s best and justified his place in the top 10 of ESPN’s latest NBA mock draft.”
Ament’s ranking could really skyrocket if he keeps playing as he has over the last two weeks.
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Gillespie, meanwhile, lands at No. 29 in ESPN’s Top 50 rankings.
“Gillespie has had to shoulder a bigger scoring load this season at Tennessee, and he has responded with career highs in points (18.8) and assists (5.5),” Borzello writes. “He has had a slew of huge performances against NCAA-caliber competition, too: 22 points vs. Houston, 34 vs. Texas, 24 vs. Kentucky, 24 vs. Alabama. He and Nate Ament will be relied upon to carry the Vols come March.”
Watch Tennessee for a few games and you’ll quickly see that Gillespie and Ament are the leading scorers for a reason. The Vols have players who can find flurries of points, such as forwards Jaylen Carey and J.P. Estrella, but it’s the two on the perimeter who are doing the most damage. Gillespie has 280 shot attempts on the season, Ament has 219, and no one else is even close. The next closest, Carey, is at 132 attempts. Behind him is Estrella with 98.
Tennessee will need Ament and Gillespie to keep finding their groove on the road to March if the Vols want to make another big run. But first, though, is the remainder of the conference schedule. Tennessee still has 12 more games on its SEC slate, starting with Wednesday night’s matchup at Georgia. The Vols are coming off of a road win at No. 17 Alabama last Saturday night and are looking to make it back-to-back road wins in SEC play.
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