University of Tennessee Athletics
Photo by: Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics
Gillespie Wins AP SEC Newcomer of the Year; Second-Teamer Alongside Ament
March 10, 2026 | Men's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Two University of Tennessee men's basketball players registered Associated Press All-SEC plaudits, as announced Tuesday morning.
Ja'Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament both tallied Second Team All-SEC accolades, with Gillespie receiving SEC Newcomer of the Year recognition. Tennessee and Florida are the only two schools with multiple players who made the cut.
Monday, in the coaches' All-SEC selections, Gillespie garnered First Team All-SEC designation, while Ament collected Second Team All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman Team nods. Additionally, senior forward Felix Okpara made the SEC All-Defensive Team.
Gillespie gives Tennessee an SEC Newcomer of the Year honoree for the third consecutive year. Dalton Knecht won the AP award in 2023-24, while Chaz Lanier earned the coaches' award in 2024-25.
A senior guard, Gillespie produced 18.0 points, 5.6 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals in 34.3 minutes per game. He ranks second in the conference in assists, steals and minutes average, as well as seventh in scoring and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.44).
The 6-foot-1, 188-pounder scored in double digits 29 times in 31 regular season contests, including doing so in 28 consecutive games. He dropped 20-plus 12 times, with 32-plus twice.
The Greeneville, Tenn., native set and then tied the Tennessee single-game record with eight steals against both Oklahoma (Feb. 18) and Alabama (Feb. 28). The Naismith Trophy Late Season Team pick has five-plus assists 20 times on the year, including a career-best 12 at South Carolina (March 3).
Ament averaged 17.4 points, a team-leading 6.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.0 steal per game across 29 regular season contests. He missed the final two-plus affairs due to a right leg injury, but still ranks top-10 in the league in scoring and defensive rebounding (4.7).
In SEC play, the 6-foot-10, 207-pound forward recorded 19.0 points per game, including putting up a 23.4 average across a 10-game span from Jan. 13 to Feb. 18. He has scored 20-plus points 10 times this year and is the fourth SEC freshman in the last 20 years (2006-26) with 28-plus on four occasions in league action.
A native of Manassas, Va., Ament has the second-most weekly honors (seven) by a freshman in league history. He is on Naismith Trophy Late Season Team with Gillespie, plus the Wayman Tisdale Award Midseason Watch List and the Julius Erving Award Midseason Watch List.
Gillespie, Ament and No. 25/RV Tennessee (21-10, 11-7 SEC) open postseason play Thursday at 3 p.m. ET at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. The fifth-seeded Volunteers will face either No. 12-seeded Auburn or No. 13-seeded Mississippi State at Bridgestone Arena, live on SEC Network.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men's basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
2025-26 ASSOCIATED PRESS SEC MEN'S BASKETBALL HONORS
Coach of the Year: Todd Golden, Florida
Player of the Year: Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
Newcomer of the Year: Dailyn Swain, Texas
Freshman of the Year: Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
FIRST TEAM
Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama
Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt
Thomas Haugh, Florida
Rueben Chinyelu, Florida
SECOND TEAM
Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
Ja'Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee
Dailyn Swain, Texas
Nate Ament, Tennessee
Alex Condon, Florida
AP All-SEC Voting Panel: Kirk Bohls, Houston Chronicle; Toyloy Brown III, The Advocate; Travis Brown, KBTX-TV; David Cloninger, The Post and Courier; Mike Griffith, Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Michael Katz, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal; Thomas Murphy, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; Mia O'Brien, ESPN Radio; David Paschall, Chattanooga Times Free Press; Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader; Ally Schniepp, Columbia Missourian; Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel; Lauren Walsh, WSMV-TV; Jacob Waters, Opelika-Auburn News; Mason Young, Tulsa World.
Ja'Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament both tallied Second Team All-SEC accolades, with Gillespie receiving SEC Newcomer of the Year recognition. Tennessee and Florida are the only two schools with multiple players who made the cut.
Monday, in the coaches' All-SEC selections, Gillespie garnered First Team All-SEC designation, while Ament collected Second Team All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman Team nods. Additionally, senior forward Felix Okpara made the SEC All-Defensive Team.
Gillespie gives Tennessee an SEC Newcomer of the Year honoree for the third consecutive year. Dalton Knecht won the AP award in 2023-24, while Chaz Lanier earned the coaches' award in 2024-25.
A senior guard, Gillespie produced 18.0 points, 5.6 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals in 34.3 minutes per game. He ranks second in the conference in assists, steals and minutes average, as well as seventh in scoring and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.44).
The 6-foot-1, 188-pounder scored in double digits 29 times in 31 regular season contests, including doing so in 28 consecutive games. He dropped 20-plus 12 times, with 32-plus twice.
The Greeneville, Tenn., native set and then tied the Tennessee single-game record with eight steals against both Oklahoma (Feb. 18) and Alabama (Feb. 28). The Naismith Trophy Late Season Team pick has five-plus assists 20 times on the year, including a career-best 12 at South Carolina (March 3).
Ament averaged 17.4 points, a team-leading 6.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.0 steal per game across 29 regular season contests. He missed the final two-plus affairs due to a right leg injury, but still ranks top-10 in the league in scoring and defensive rebounding (4.7).
In SEC play, the 6-foot-10, 207-pound forward recorded 19.0 points per game, including putting up a 23.4 average across a 10-game span from Jan. 13 to Feb. 18. He has scored 20-plus points 10 times this year and is the fourth SEC freshman in the last 20 years (2006-26) with 28-plus on four occasions in league action.
A native of Manassas, Va., Ament has the second-most weekly honors (seven) by a freshman in league history. He is on Naismith Trophy Late Season Team with Gillespie, plus the Wayman Tisdale Award Midseason Watch List and the Julius Erving Award Midseason Watch List.
Gillespie, Ament and No. 25/RV Tennessee (21-10, 11-7 SEC) open postseason play Thursday at 3 p.m. ET at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. The fifth-seeded Volunteers will face either No. 12-seeded Auburn or No. 13-seeded Mississippi State at Bridgestone Arena, live on SEC Network.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men's basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
2025-26 ASSOCIATED PRESS SEC MEN'S BASKETBALL HONORS
Coach of the Year: Todd Golden, Florida
Player of the Year: Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
Newcomer of the Year: Dailyn Swain, Texas
Freshman of the Year: Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
FIRST TEAM
Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama
Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt
Thomas Haugh, Florida
Rueben Chinyelu, Florida
SECOND TEAM
Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
Ja'Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee
Dailyn Swain, Texas
Nate Ament, Tennessee
Alex Condon, Florida
AP All-SEC Voting Panel: Kirk Bohls, Houston Chronicle; Toyloy Brown III, The Advocate; Travis Brown, KBTX-TV; David Cloninger, The Post and Courier; Mike Griffith, Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Michael Katz, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal; Thomas Murphy, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; Mia O'Brien, ESPN Radio; David Paschall, Chattanooga Times Free Press; Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader; Ally Schniepp, Columbia Missourian; Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel; Lauren Walsh, WSMV-TV; Jacob Waters, Opelika-Auburn News; Mason Young, Tulsa World.
Players Mentioned
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