A 23-point Tennessee lead had dissolved to just five points with five minutes to play when the Vols turned to Nate Ament. On a quiet night for the projected lottery pick, Tennessee still put its trust in the five-star freshman and he came through clutch. Ament ended an 18-0 run with an old fashioned three-point play to stabilize Tennessee in the 73-64 win.
“At the end, when we needed him, he came through,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said postgame.
Entering the Mississippi State game, Ament was averaging 23 points over his last eight games and was coming off a week where he averaged 28.5 points. But with five minutes left, Ament had just eight points on two-of-nine shooting from the field.
“They were being real physical with me,” Ament said of his struggles. “Credit to them. They just made it tough for me to get to my spots. Made me see a body wherever I was going. I think a lot of it was just on me trying to play too slow and trying to think too much. That’s just kind of what I was feeling in the game.”
But with Tennessee reeling, they still turned to Ament. He scored the previously mentioned and-one to push the lead by to eight points. Two possessions later, Ament got down hill again for another and-one that pushed Tennessee’s lead back to 13 points and all but put the game away.
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“End of the game, I think we were in the bonus or close to being in the bonus,” Ament said. “Just wanted to be aggressive and get down hill. If I don’t score and get fouled, get to the free throw line. … They had gone on a big run. We’ve got to be better than that. That was just good for us to end the game, snap back into it after that.”
Then Bishop Boswell sparked the exclamation point a few minutes later, saving the ball with a behind the back pass to Ament, getting it back and throwing a lob to Ament.
AIRRR MAILLLL
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After scoring eight points through 35 minutes, Ament scored eight points in the final five minutes to put the game away. It was the latest sign of growth from Ament, scoring winning buckets late on a night he struggled to get it going. The end result was another 16-point game as he continues to raise his floor.
Ament’s confidence continues to grow game-by-game. Earlier in the season, in-game struggles would derail entire games for Ament. Now, the 6-foot-10 wing seems unbothered by mistakes and just keeps pushing and looking for his shot.
“It’s at an all-time high,” Ament said of his confidence. “My coaches believe in me. My teammates believe in me. When you have that belief it’s hard not to have confidence in yourself. … Coach Barnes, told me to go get the ball on a lot of those plays. They believe in me. Ja’Kobi believes in me. They were going to give me the ball at the end of the game and trust me to make something happen. Again, having them believe in me means everything.”
