KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Freshman forward Nate Ament of the University of Tennessee men's basketball team is on the Julius Erving Award Midseason Top 10 Watch List, as announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The annual Julius Erving Award, named after the Class of 1993 Hall of Famer and 17-year professional basketball player, celebrates its 12th year by recognizing the top small forwards in Division I men's college basketball.
Ament is one of just three freshmen who made the list, alongside BYU's A.J. Dybantsa and Baylor's Tounde Yessoufou. He is also among three picks from the SEC, joining Florida's Thomas Haugh and Texas' Dailyn Swain.
The 6-foot-10, 207-pounder is averaging 17.1 points, a team-best 6.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game. In addition to rebounding, he tops Tennessee in made free throws (124) and free-throw attempts (162), while ranking second in scoring, assists, made field goals (112) and made 3-pointers (28).
In SEC play, Ament is putting up 19.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, while shooting 44.8 percent from the field, 35.5 percent beyond the arc and 75.3 percent at the line.
Ament has registered 17-plus points in 13 of his 22 outings as a Volunteer, including hitting that mark in each of the last seven contests. He has 20-plus points on seven occasions, including in four of the past six games.
Furthermore, Ament has grabbed five-plus rebounds 19 times, with seven-plus in 10 appearances and nine-plus in four. He also possesses five performances with at least four assists and eight with at least two steals.