The Closing Five: Tennessee Loses to Alabama After Nate Ament Injury
BY: Walker Smith
KNOXVILLE – Tennessee Basketball, despite leading for all but 24 seconds in the game, lost to Alabama 71-69 at home, with the headline being superstar freshman Nate Ament leaving the game with a right leg injury.
Guard Labaron Philon Jr. hit the game-winner on a midrange fadeaway after being switched onto junior J.P. Estrella. The result is now the fifth time this season that the Vols have given up a 10+ point lead, but this one felt a little different with the injury to their best player. It was clear that once he left, the offense hit a standstill, and it was only a matter of time before the Crimson Tide would take advantage.
Alabama head coach Nate Oats said it best for their side. “It’s great that we got the win, I’m not sure we necessarily deserved it, but we did fight hard.”
final pic.twitter.com/xpQ2ldkQQF
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) March 1, 2026
1: Nate Ament’s Injury
Vols fans felt their collective spirit leave their body with 7:42 left in the first half when Ament and Amari Allen hit the floor for a loose ball. Allen unintentionally rolled up on the back of Ament’s right leg, followed by the freshman writhing in pain on the floor before walking off under his own power.
It was gruesome to watch, but he was able to walk off and tried his best to come back in the second half before being shut down for the game. His final line was 11 minutes, 2 points, and 3 rebounds.
“He hurt his knee a little bit,” head coach Rick Barnes said. “He tried. If he can’t go, he can’t go. There’s no one tougher than him.”
Tennessee did its best to stay with it offensively when its best scorer left the floor, but it really couldn’t manufacture much. They shot under 40% for the game and just 37% in the 2nd half. The Vols didn’t have a second option outside of senior point guard Ja’kobi Gillespie, with the rest of the field going 20-50 from the field during the game and 8-21 in the second half.
“You got to turn around and play,” Barnes said. “Not everybody was totally locked in the way you have to in a high-level game like this. And in the end, they made one more play than we did.”
There was no update on Ament’s injury after the game, so Vol Nation will hold its breath and pray for good news with Selection Sunday two weeks away.
2: Offensive Board Dominance but Not Enough Pay-off
If someone looked at the rebounding numbers in this game, they’d think Tennessee won the game going away. The Vols outperformed the Tide 47-30 on the glass and grabbed 25 offensive boards. In most cases, that’d lead to a double-digit win.
However, Tennessee could not capitalize on second, third, and even fourth bites at the apple, scoring just 25 second-chance points. On the final possession, the Vols missed three shots inside five feet.
“Our post guys, they’re not going to make all those, but when you have as many offensive rebounds as we have, we should be getting more production out of that, and we’re not,” Barnes said. “It can’t be just rebounding. If we can’t put it right back up, we do want to kick it out, and if we get a good look at it from three, that’s a great time to take a three. But we need more points from our offensive rebounds for certain.”
There’s been inconsistency at the rim all season for Barnes’ team, but this game showed how unreliable the front court can be scoring around the rim. Jaylen Carey and Estrella both finished with 10+, but also each could have had 15+ given the amount of glass cleaning they did alongside senior Felix Okpara, who was playing with an illness. If Ament ends up missing time, they will be the ones who need to pick up the slack.
3: Ja’Kobi Gillespie Did All He Could
Once Ament left the game, Gillespie did everything he could to put on his Superman cape and drag his team to victory. He had 26 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 8 steals, and just 1 turnover in the losing effort.
“Ja’Kobi was great,” Barnes said. “I mean, you look at what he did, he couldn’t do any more than what he did. I thought he played his heart out.”
The lone gripe from the game would be how he handled Tennessee’s last two possessions of the game. He took a moving three-point shot from the corner that was a very low percentage look when the game was tied, then later took slightly too long before driving to the rim for a chance to tie.
That would be just nitpicking his night, however, as he was the primary reason Tennessee stayed ahead for most of the game on both ends of the floor.
4: Vols Got A Bad Whistle
Barnes and the coaching staff weren’t shy about how they felt the game was officiated during the contest. Multiple times, they were lined up on the sideline, shouting at the refs down the stretch.
“For as many two-point shots as we took, I like to think at some point in time we’re going to get fouled, and then it’s a matter of whether we make free throws,” Barnes said. “It’s a hard game to officiate in there, but I’m sure they feel the same way.”
Alabama had 10 fouls to the Vols’ 15 and just 4 to Tennessee’s 7 in the 2nd half. It wasn’t the type of whistle fans would expect for a team at home in a physical game. While it wasn’t one of the top reasons they fell short, it certainly didn’t help down the stretch as they tried to win down the stretch.
5: Three Point Drought
As frustrating as some of the stretches were inside, the Vols' three-point offense was virtually nonexistent. They finished 4-18 from beyond the arc and didn’t make a three-pointer in the second half, compared to Alabama’s 10-27. Three of the triples came from Gillespie, with freshman Amari Evans making the only other shot from outside.
“I wish I could coach making shots, but we would never miss,” Barnes said. “You got to make plays, and we didn’t make it on the defensive end when we needed to, and when we needed to get a bucket, we couldn’t get it.”
The three-ball isn’t Tennessee’s main weapon like Alabama’s, but if Ament is to miss more than just this game, Gillespie would be the only consistent three-point shooter out there. Sophomore Bishop Boswell shoots well from outside, but has not shot the ball enough to be a real threat as of now.