KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Two members of the University of Tennessee men's basketball team, Nate Ament and Ja'Kobi Gillespie, received National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) First Team All-Central Region plaudits.
For the second time, the NABC named two 10-man teams across eight districts, as determined by geography. It previously produced two five-man teams across 23 districts, as determined by conference alignment.
The awards are voted on by coaches from within their respective districts. The Volunteers' regional area includes the 36 Division I schools across six states: Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and Tennessee.
This is the fourth year in a row multiple Volunteers have garnered NABC All-District accolades. It is also the second straight season two Tennessee players have collected first-team nods, as Chaz Lanier and Zakai Zeigler both did so in 2024-25.
Tennessee and Iowa State (three) are the only schools with multiple NABC First Team All-Central District designees this year. Just three others—Kansas (three), Louisville and Nebraska—even have multiple selections across the two teams.Ament is averaging 17.5 points, a team-best 6.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steal per game on the year. The freshman forward's 183 made free throws tie for No. 19 nationally and place fourth on the Volunteers' single-season leaderboard. He has posted five outings with 27-plus points this season, one of just 10 SEC freshmen in the last 20 years (2006-26) to do so.
Gillespie leads the Volunteers in points (18.0), assists (5.5), steals (2.1) and minutes (34.5) per game, plus averages 2.8 rebounds per contest and sports a 2.43 assist-to-turnover ratio. His 68 steals are fifth-most on Tennessee's single-season list, while his 180 assists place eighth. The senior guard has scored 20-plus points 13 times this year.