3 reasons for concern from an in-person look at Tennessee's Nate Ament

Billy Heyen

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3 reasons for concern from an in-person look at Tennessee's Nate Ament image

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — In warmups, Tennessee freshman phenom Nate Ament looks the part.

But then the basketball game starts.

And so far this season, the Volunteers' top-five recruit, a player projected by many to go in the top-five of the 2026 NBA Draft, has not looked like anything special once the ball has been tipped.

An in-person look at Ament on Tuesday night in the JMA Wireless Dome, during a Tennessee upset loss to Syracuse, revealed genuine reasons for concern.

These are all things Ament can address between now and the end of the season, and he can certainly be better at them by the time he gets to the league.

But they also aren't nothing. They're worth noting, because Ament hasn't yet lived up to the hype.

MORE: Inside the kind of college basketball win that only happens in Syracuse, N.Y.

Physicality

The most obvious thing that stood out, over and over again, is that Ament rarely got to where he wanted to go.

Syracuse has a sturdy roster of players, and they easily pushed Ament off his path on the occasions he chose to cut or drive. Even on the glass, SU generally didn't have a problem with Ament, despite his length.

Offensive assertiveness

This may have been the most immediately concerning. Tennessee ran plays to get the ball to Ament, knowing his talent.

And yet, he didn't usually look to take over.

Maybe an early airball on an open 3-pointer in the odd shooting confines of the Dome got into his head.

But for most of the game, SU guarded Ament with J.J. Starling, who is a 6-foot-4 guard. And rarely did Ament look to take him on or even shoot over him.

Syracuse had much more trouble guarding the 6-foot-7 forward with a defensive end body, Jaylen Carey, who feasted on a diet of backdown right-handed layups.

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Defensive impact

Ament didn't yet seem to have a great sense of where to be when on the defensive end. He surely has the athleticism and length to make a major impact down there, but it wasn't there against Syracuse.

On what was the game's biggest shot, Starling had the ball with Ament guarding him at the 3-point line. A screener came, Starling went right, and Ament just... Disappeared? He didn't really guard Starling or the roller, and Starling drilled an open 3-pointer.

Rick Barnes kept trusting Ament in key spots. He knows the talent is there. But there is work to be done.

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Staff Writer