Tennessee Basketball Has Two Preseason All-SEC Honors

The Tennessee Volunteers have another sport quickly approaching, as the Tennessee Vols are set to play basketball soon. The Men's basketball team is inching closer to their season debut. Their debut is set for November 3rd against the Mercer Bears, which is a game where the Vols should dominate across the board.

Some major news for two of the players was announced on Monday. Both of the players being new players to the program this upcoming season. Take a look.

Two Vols Named on Preseason Second-Team

Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes answers questions to media on September 23, 2025, in Knoxville, Tennessee. | Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Vols basketball team received some huge honors entering the season, as the Vols had two preseason All-SEC second team players.

Kob + Nate land second team Preseason All-SEC honors

read more → https://t.co/6GA2Q70iyh pic.twitter.com/6BzwtsaBFN
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) October 13, 2025

The two players who received honors for the Vols as preseason All-SEC players are Ja'Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament.

Ament is a five-star prospect who has been compared to Kevin Durant. Many believe he has the chance to be nothing short of Elite for the Vols in what could be and likely will be his one and only year if the things go the way they anticipate.

National Basketball Analyst Adam Finkelstein from 247Sports shared an evaluation on the Vols star. Take a look.

"Ament is one of the best long-term prospects in the country. He's an immense talent and still in the early stages of putting it all together. He has good positional size for a face-up forward at over 6-foot-9 with an elastic body type, albeit a relatively modest 6-foot-11 wingspan. He's a fluid mover, plus athlete, and has tremendous natural hands and touch, which are the foundation of his developing skill-set."

He then would go into his shooting splits and more.

"While not completely polished, Ament shows real potential as both a handler and a shooter. He posted 47/42/90 shooting splits in the 3SSB season. He has a high release and soft touch with range that extends out to the three-point line, and yet is still learning to get consistently balanced in his lower body. The ball hits his hand incredibly softly when he puts it on the floor, and he's starting to show more creativity off the bounce as well. There are even some very real flashes of floor vision and passing ability, with both hands."

What is the most glaring limitation in his game?

"The most glaring limitation in Ament's game right now is a lack of strength and sheer force. His naturally wiry frame is only just beginning to fill out. He also tends to play a bit upright, raising his center of gravity, which makes it that much easier for him to get bumped or angled off the line of his drive. Right now, Ament can also struggle to finish through contact in a high-level game. Despite that, he shows a real ability to get his own shot off. In addition to that physical maturation, we're also just starting to see the first signs of an alpha mentality in Ament. He's come up the ranks as someone who was content to blend in and rarely looked to really assert himself. Now, we're gradually starting to see him get more assertive, and the expectation is that could come in correlation with the progression of his body. Even defensively, we're seeing him fly around more and make more plays off the ball."

He then would detail the potential that Ament has.

"What's glaring about Ament is just how much potential he has to get better. He needs to get stronger, keep getting more aggressive, and polish all aspects of his skill set, but all the tools are in place for him to evolve into a skilled and smooth 6-foot-9-plus perimeter forward who is a true three-range scoring threat. The bottom line on Ament is that there may be some five-star prospects who are more capable of dominating a game today, but he has as high a long-term upside as potentially anyone in the class."

As for Gillespie, he was evaluated by the same individual.

"After two seasons at Belmont, Jakobi Gillespie established himself as one of the best point guards in the country last season at Maryland, averaging 14.7 points, 4.8 assists, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.9 steals against 1.9 turnovers while shooting 45% from the field, 41% from the three-point line, and 86% from the free-throw line. The concern going into last season was that Gillespie’s lack of elite size and athleticism would make it difficult to adjust to a higher level of competition, but that was not the case. Instead, he differentiated himself by proving he could impact the game in a multitude of different ways. His shot-making translated across the board. He has a very fluid release and knocked down 46% of his open catch-and-shoot threes, both spotting up and being a real movement shooter off screens. He was also a tough shot-maker off the dribble, knocking down 38% of those threes, while showing a real ability to separate with step-backs. Gillespie was crafty and poised in the lane, compensating for whatever physicality he may lack with creativity and skill to create for himself and others. He ended up being one of just four high-major players in the country to make at least 80 threes and post an assist rate above 27.0, and had an instinct for finding the balance between scoring and distributing. Defensively, he’s competitive and smart, not only producing a high steal rate but being effective at the point of attack."

Two Vols Named on Preseason Second-Team

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