An “off night” for Nate Ament can now be described as 16 points, five assists and two three-point plays in the final five minutes that can repel Mississippi State 73-64 in Starkville.
Such was the case Wednesday night with Tennessee’s five-star freshman forward, who had his lowest scoring output in more than a month but came up clutch after the Bulldogs had sliced a 23-point deficit to five inside Humphrey Coliseum. Ament scored half of his points in the final five minutes for the Volunteers, who improved to 17-7 overall and to 7-4 in Southeastern Conference play.
“It’s at an all-time high,” Ament said late Wednesday night when asked by reporters about his confidence level. “My coaches believe in me, and my teammates believe in me, and when you have that belief, you start to have confidence in yourself.
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“They were being physical with me, and that’s a credit to them,” Ament said of the Bulldogs (11-13, 3-8 SEC). “They made it tough for me to get to my spots. They made me see a body wherever I was going, but some of that was on me for playing too slow and trying to think too much. At the end of the game, when we were in the bonus or close to it, I just wanted to be aggressive and get downhill.”