While plenty of people were still celebrating the football win over Kentucky, there were countless eyes on Tennessee basketball on Sunday night going up against the Duke Blue Devils. In the end, Duke posted an 83-76 win in Knoxville, but this was just an exhibition matchup and Rick Barnes surely liked what he saw out of his team for the most part.
In the loss, there were moments where 5-star freshman Nate Ament looked fantastic, with a monster two-handed jam getting everyone off their seats. However, Ament also struggled shooting the ball, going 5-of-19 from the floor. It wasn't quite the debut everyone envisioned for him. Leave it to Duke head coach Jon Scheyer to remind everyone that the future is incredibly bright for the youngster:
Duke coach Jon Scheyer on Tennessee freshman Nate Ament: Now that probably we won't see him again this season, I can admit how much I'll be rooting for Nate. He's a great kid from a great family. He got a double-double tonight and didn't even make a lot of shots he usually makes.
— Wes Rucker (@wesruckerTBA) October 27, 2025
Jon Scheyer knows Tennessee's Nate Ament is in for a big year
Ament finished the night with 14 points and 10 rebounds. A double-double in his first taste of college action against one of the top teams in the country? Yes, that's absolutely nothing to sneeze at. However, his shooting woes weren't expected.
Yes, that was a bummer, but let's not lose our heads here. Ament signed with the Vols as one of the top 2025 playmakers in the country and people, including Barnes, are confident that he's going to live up to the hype in 2025-26. One rough shooting night is meaningless.
Some Tennessee supporters might just be freaking out a bit because Duke freshman Cameron Boozer, a fellow 5-star prospect, was downright electric in the win for the Blue Devils. On the night, Boozer scored 24 points and added a mind-blowing 23 rebounds.
Hats off to Boozer and Duke for playing so well and leaving UT with a win. They earned that W, but Tennessee will get back to the drawing board at practice and work on cleaning things up before the regular season opener against Mercer on Nov. 3. As for the shooting issues for Ament? Just have him fire up more shots during practices and he'll be good to go. Nothing to worry about here.