Dai Dai Ames has already taken the shot.
Not with Tennessee’s season actually hanging in the balance.
But alone in the gym, with five seconds on an imaginary clock, the Volunteers’ new guard has been there plenty of times.
“All the time when I’m shooting in the gym, I envision five seconds left,” Ames said Friday on Live Ball. “Me coming out for a three-point, mid-range.”
The stage in his mind isn’t small, either.
“I’ll be thinking national championship,” Ames said.
That confidence is part of what Tennessee expected from Ames.
Assistant coach Amorrow Morgan described him as an “extremely confident player” who has already been tested at the high-major level.
Ames has played in the Big 12 and ACC and earned all-conference recognition. Morgan said succeeding at that level, particularly at Ames’ size, requires an uncommon belief in yourself.
“You have to be irrationally confident,” Morgan said. “And he possesses that.”
That edge was developed long before Ames arrived in Knoxville.
Growing up in Chicago, Ames learned to compete without backing down from anyone. Some of his earliest competition came against his four older brothers.
“Me just playing against them as a kid and killing them, they was like, ‘Yeah, he gonna be the one,’” Ames said.
Being the younger brother didn’t stop him from letting them hear about it, either.
“It was amazing because they couldn’t talk crazy to me,” Ames said. “I was talking crazy to them, so it was real funny.”
The mentality eventually earned Ames a nickname.
His high school coach, Mike Irvin, called him “The Closer.” Ames once scored 65 points in a high school game, but his definition of closing has never been limited to scoring.
“I’ve been called that my whole life, so that’s really me,” Ames said. “When it comes to them times, I just make the right play. Either that’s me shooting, or me making an assist, or me getting a defensive stop. I do the right play.”
Tennessee knew Ames could score.
Now, the Vols are asking him to become more.
Morgan said Ames has made significant progress during his first three months in the program, particularly as Tennessee has challenged him to become a consistent two-way player.
“He’s taken a huge step here in his three months with us,” Morgan said. “Just being a reliable competitor and becoming someone we know we can trust to show up and compete the Tennessee Way.”
That development hasn’t come comfortably.
Ames arrived with a defensive identity rooted in the toughness he developed in Chicago. Rick Barnes has continued to test it.
“All the time, every practice,” Ames said. “He don’t give us no breaks, and it makes us better at the same time. Cause if we can go through the adversity during practice, when the game comes, it’s gonna be easy.”
The demands can come down to details.
Ames pointed to Tennessee’s spacing and jumping into gaps defensively as areas where Barnes won’t allow mistakes to slide.
“If you don’t do it, he getting on you automatically, stopping the whole practice,” Ames said. “So you just got to get it right.”
Morgan has seen Ames respond.
“Coming in as a scorer, most guys aren’t challenged the way they are here to be two-way players,” Morgan said. “But he’s been incredibly determined to become more consistent on that end and it shows.”
The progress is beginning to extend beyond Ames’ own game.
Morgan said Ames’ reliability and willingness to compete have helped him emerge as a leader by example.
“And leading by example is now bringing others along with him,” Morgan said.
Ames sees competition throughout Tennessee’s roster.
When asked which players aren’t receiving enough attention, he pointed to the Vols’ freshmen.
“We got some very good freshmen,” Ames said. “They got that dog in them. I like that.”
Their push for playing time has forced the veterans to respond.
“It raises a lot because it’s actually making us better seeing them compete,” Ames said. “They trying to play, so we got to step our stuff up too.”
Morgan said Ames has been hard on himself throughout the process and is “really locked in on making the Final Four.”
Ames’ own imagination goes one step further.
Five seconds left.
National championship.
The ball in his hands.
For a player who has spent his career being called “The Closer,” that’s exactly where Ames wants it.
