Nate Ament has been nursing a knee sprain since Tennessee’s regular-season loss to Alabama on the final day of February, and though the five-star freshman hasn’t been himself in the postseason, his limitations didn’t stop Rick Barnes from reaching his fourth-straight Sweet 16 with a 79-72 win over third-seeded Virginia in Philadelphia on Sunday night.
After going 0-3 in just 18 minutes in the first round win over Miami (OH) and starting Sunday’s game ice cold, going 1-4 in the first half, he found his rhythm after the break to finish with 16 points. Then, in the postgame press conference, he offered an explanation for his slow start that should have Tennessee fans optimistic for the Sweet 16 showdown with second-seeded Iowa State.
“I think the game just kind of slowed down for me a little bit,” Ament told reporters. “Also, I was kind of fighting fatigue in the 1st. Sitting out a couple of games, it's hard to bounce back, but I kind of found my footing in the second."
Nate Ament’s slow starts are nothing new
While it may be frustrating to hear that a five-star freshman is struggling with fatigue in the NCAA Tournament, it tracks with Ament’s entire season. For as physical and skilled as he is at 6-foot-10, 207 pounds, the Virginia native’s offensive game is predicated on rhythm and feel. It took him a while in SEC to play ‘find his footing,’ but once he did, he strung together one of the best stretches of any freshman in the country.
From the start of The Player’s Era Festival through the first three games of conference play, Ament, despite having a 28 percent usage rate, averaged 13.1 points per game with a 44.3 percent effective field goal percentage and 3.9 turnovers per 40 minutes (per CBBanalytics.com).
Then, from January 13 through Feburary 18, his best stretch of the year, he played nine more minutes per game and with a similar usage rate, his points per game jumped to 23.4, points per 40 minutes jumped from 19.4 to 26.0, his effective field goal percentage shot to 50.3 percent, and he turned the ball over just 2.3 times per 40 minutes. He was a completely different player.
Injuries slowed Ament down the stretch, and he struggled mightily in the SEC Tournament, going 1-13 from the field in the Vols’ 75-68 quarterfinal loss to Vanderbilt. Obviously, the knee sprain has a lot to do with his lack of production in March, but from how he started the season, it’s not surprising to see him need time to get back up to speed and even less surprising to hear him admit it.
Tennessee needed a strong second half from its star freshman to oust Virginia on Sunday. Whether or not Iowa State’s leading scorer, Joshua Jefferson, who injured his ankle in the Round of 64, can go on Friday in Chicago, the Vols will need him to be even better to keep this run going. Now that he's back in the flow and has more time to get his knee healthy, there's plenty of reason to believe he will be.