Towel-covered Nate Ament sets sights on Final Four: ‘We’re gonna fight our tails off’
By David Wasson
Published:
Someone, please, get Nate Ament a towel – anything to cool him off from yet another strong NCAA Tournament performance.
The Tennessee freshman forward dropped a team-high 18 points Friday night as the sixth-seeded Volunteers upended the second-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes 76-62. That victory brought the Vols to the brink of their first Final Four, something a towel-draped Ament is eager to make happen in the program’s third straight trip to the Elite Eight.
“We want it. We want it so bad,” Ament told a similarly towel-draped Evan Washburn from CBS. “It’s never been done in Tennessee history and we’re gonna fight our tails off to get it done for (coach Rick Barnes).”
Ament drilled three 3-pointers in the victory and added four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Teammate Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 16 points and Jaylen Carey came off the bench for 11 points in the victory.
“My teammates believe in me and they make my job so much easier when they want me to take over the game,” Ament added. “My confidence is their confidence.”
Tennessee (25-11) will take on top-seeded Michigan (34-3) in the Midwest Region final on Sunday (2:15 pm, CBS) in an attempt to break an 0-for-4 record in the Elite Eight. Barnes took the Texas Longhorns to the Final Four in 2003.
Here’s a look at the latest odds for each remaining team to reach the Final Four.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
