No concern from Rick Barnes after Nate Ament's slow start: 'We're ecstatic about him'

After Sunday night’s exhibition game, Duke coach Jon Scheyer can go back to being a fan of Tennessee Basketball five-star freshman wing Nate Ament. After all, Scheyer’s Blue Devils aren’t going to see him again for a while, if at all. 

“We’ll be rooting for Nate,” Scheyer said after No. 6 Duke’s 83-76 win over No. 18 Tennessee at Food City Center in Knoxville. 

Ament was the No. 4 overall prospect in the 2025 Rivals recruiting rankings and picked Tennessee over Duke, Louisville, Kentucky and Arkansas among others. 

“I mean, he’s super talented,” Scheyer said during his postgame press conference. “ … Great kid, great family.”

But that talent wasn’t on full display during a frustrating unofficial debut for Ament. He had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, but shot just 5-for-19 from the field, including 0-for-5 from the 3-point line. 

“He had a double-double and he didn’t even make a lot of shots,” Scheyer said. “I thought our team did a good job of making him try to score over the top. I think that’s important because obviously he’s got great size.”

Up Next: No. 18 Tennessee vs. Mercer, November 3

Ament wasn’t alone in his shooting struggle.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie, the Maryland point guard transfer tasked with replacing Zakai Zeigler, finished with a team-high 19 points and added eight assists, but he was just 5-for-21 from the field and went 3-for-13 from the 3-point line.  

“(Duke) put a lot on him,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said of Gillespie. “They knew they were going to try to slow him down in transition.”

Barnes wasn’t concerned about Ament or Gillespie at the end of the night. 

He said playing in front of a capacity crowd against high-level competition “was great for Ja’Kobi.” He added that he kept Ament on the floor with the ball in his hands, despite his shooting struggle, because he didn’t want the highly touted freshman “to think we’ll lose confidence in him.”

“We’re not,” Barnes said.

Instead, Barnes lauded the seven fouls Ament drew and added that he can get to the foul line more than the six times he did against Duke. 

“But his first time out,” Barnes said, “I can assure you, it’s the most physical game he’s ever been in his life.”

Rick Barnes: ‘Nate’s learning how to be a perimeter player’

Duke freshman Cameron Boozer, the No. 3 overall prospect in the 2025 Rivals rankings, provided the physicality. The 6-foot-9, 250-pound freshman had 24 points, 23 rebounds and six assists in 39 dominant minutes. 

The learning curve for the 6-foot-10, 207-pound Ament is away from the basket. After playing more in the post during his high school career, he’ll need to succeed on the wing at Tennessee.

Sunday night was a slow step in that direction, but Barnes was far from discouraged.

“Nate’s learning how to be a perimeter player,” Barnes said. “And we’re ecstatic about him. I think this will be good for him, because he’s so smart, he’ll look at it, he’ll figure it out himself, and he’ll figure it out. There’s no doubt my mind.”

Scheyer agreed.

“Nate is going to be a big-time player,” he said, “and there’s no doubt about it.”