Tennessee has ruled out star freshman Nate Ament for Tuesday night’s game against South Carolina, the team announced on Monday night. Ament suffered a leg injury on Saturday against Alabama and the Volunteers are still evaluating the severity of the injury.
There is currently no timetable for Ament’s return as he receives further evaluation. The five-star freshman didn’t practice on Monday, but he did work out off to the side, according to 247Sports. Assistant coach Justin Gainey told reporters that Tennessee was still waiting to get the results of the MRI Ament underwent on Sunday.
“(Sunday) it wasn’t a lot of information that we got because they hadn’t received the MRIs yet,” Gainey said. “So we didn’t have a lot of information, just kind of general. And so today hopefully we kind of get updated on that and where things are with it.”
Ament left Tennessee’s 71-69 loss to Alabama in the first half after getting tangled up with a couple Crimson Tide players while diving for a loose ball. Ament didn’t return in the first half, but he did re-enter the game in the second half before leaving again. Ultimately, Ament was limited to just 11 minutes.
After an uneven start to his freshman season on Rocky Top, Ament really hit his stride in February. He is second on the Vols in points per game (17.4) and leads the team in rebounds per game (6.4). If Ament does miss significant time, that will test Tennessee’s scoring depth while putting even more weight on leading scorer Ja’Kobi Gillespie.
No. 24 Tennessee wraps up regular season play this week with Tuesday’s road game against the Gamecocks before hosting rival Vanderbilt on Saturday. After that, the Volunteers will travel to Nashville for the SEC Tournament, and the absence of Ament would loom large on the doorstep of the NCAA Tournament for Tennessee, a No. 5 seed in CBS Sports Bracketology.
