Tennessee basketball is dancing its way to the Sweet 16. The six-seed Vols defeated 11-seed Miami (OH) and three-seed Virginia in the opening pair of rounds to advance to a fourth-straight second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
Helping will Tennessee to this point is freshman phenom, Nate Ament. However, he’s been far from 100%. Though he could’ve sat out and focused on his future NBA career, he’s been gritting it through his leg injury, instead.
That selflessness hasn’t gone unnoticed. ESPN personality Stanford Steve made sure to give Ament his due during a recent episode of the popular SVPod.
“You have a stud freshman in Ament, and I just want to say, I give that kid a ton of credit,” Stanford Steve said. “In this day in age of guys sitting out, I’m not playing til I’m 100, I can’t go, I’m not going to do this, maybe next week. You can tell he’s not 100% and that dude is out there battling.”
“You could tell he’s not 100% and that dude’s out there battling And Ja’Kobi Gillespie… he’s as valuable to a team’s success as anyone.”@StanfordSteve82 loves what he sees from @Vol_Hoops stars Nate Ament & Ja’Kobi Gillespie 🍊#Vols | #GBO pic.twitter.com/QwGCqWK44q
— SVPod (@_SVPod) March 25, 2026
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Ament has some additional time to recover from his injury, but isn’t expected to be back at 100% against two-seed Iowa State in the Sweet 16. For the Vols to defeat a strong Cyclones squad, they’ll need him to continue to contribute, though.
“Toughness, defense, well-coached, really terrific point guard play,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said about ISU. “I think they really, as a team, they’re connected. They know who needs to be shooting it, when they need to be shooting it and just play extremely well together. But really excellent defensive team. Excellent.”
Tennessee is set to meet Iowa State in the Sweet 16 on Friday. The game is scheduled for 10:10 p.m. ET and will air on TBS/TruTV.
