Tennessee basketball’s prized offseason additions, Nate Ament and Ja’Kobi Gillespie, left their first outings at Food City Center with undesirable performances.
The two offensive leaders punched in 35 points for the Vols, but needed 40 shots to do so. They combined to shoot 10-for-40 on the night with a 3-for-18 stripe from deep in an exhibition match against Duke.
At the end of the night, Tennessee leaves with a loss — but not to its season total. That is what allows confidence for head coach Rick Barnes moving forward.
“I thought it would be a great learning experience for Nate and Ja’Kobi,” Barnes said. “I thought they both tried to do much more than they needed to.”
Ament, the consensus five-star freshman who was part of the reason a number of NBA scouts were in attendance, answered with a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double in a game he handled a majority of offensive possessions. Ament shot 5-for-19 from the field and missed all five 3-point shots he attempted.
Gillespie, a senior guard taking over for Zakai Zeigler, commanded 21 shots on the night, scoring 19 points and dishing out eight assists. He went 3-for-13 from the perimeter and drained all six free throws attempted, while limiting himself to two turnovers.
“We could be a lot better in every aspect,” Gillespie said.
It began when Ament opened with a trio of misses out of the gate. Jaylen Carey followed with a miss before Ament finally drilled his fourth shot, and the team’s first, at the 17:42 mark of the first half.
It became apparent from the start that Ament was going to garner plenty of offensive looks. And the touted freshman did not stray away from any of them.
He continued to shoot, but did not quite have the shooter’s touch. Ament tallied 10 shots in 16 minutes during the first half, scoring six points. A second-half response did not come from him, either. Ament’s shot continued to struggle, but it was part of the team-wide malpractice.
Ament’s second half consisted of nine shots, seeing two of them fall. He tallied eight points over the back-half and hauled in five more boards.
He faced a physical challenge against a high-level opponent in his first action, and that helps keep the overreaction to a minimum.
“With Nate, I’m not surprised,” Barnes said. “It was his first game… I guarantee it was the most physical game he’s ever been in in his life.”
Barnes pointed to Ament’s seven drawn fouls as another area he liked, but also wanted to see improvement in. Despite drawing fouls, Ament only attempted four free throws — a mark that should see improvement as he adjusts to the physicality at the college level.
“I think he could be one of the best in the country at drawing fouls,” Barnes said.
Gillespie also had his share of struggles. Preseason scouting involves going back to previous years’ film, and what Duke saw on paper was an All-Big Ten player. That allowed the Blue Devils to dial in on him defensively and reaped the benefit of doing such.
They forced Gillespie into uncomfortable looks and kept the offense from operating on all cylinders. He contributed nine shots in the first half and had two fall for baskets. By the second half, he was relied on in a heavier role with an overall team struggle, posting 13 shots — but just three found the bottom of the net.
Tennessee blundered its six-point halftime lead in the matter of two minutes, watching Duke carry an 8-2 run to begin the second half.
“I just don’t feel like we came out ready to go like we did in the first half,” Gillespie said.
The Vols made two shots over the final 10 minutes of the game. In that span, Gillespie and Ament took every shot that the Vols put up. They combined to attempt 12 shots and with each making a single look.
“We just got to take better shots and kind of know what we’re doing more on offense, because I feel like we kind of just rushing our offense, just trying to get a shot up,” Gillespie said.
When the Vols take the court the next time, everything will be official. Tennessee opens the regular season on Nov. 3 with a matchup against Mercer at Food City Center.
