Dai Dai Ames brings Chicago flair as Ja’Kobi Gillespie replacement at Tennessee

Dai Dai Ames spent three years traveling the country to find his home in college basketball.

Kansas State. Virginia. Cal. Now, at the end of the road, he has one final stop.

The Chicago native, born Darrin Sylvestor Ames Jr., got his nickname the way most do. Friends coined it young, family picked it up and it stuck ever since. Now, 21, and entering his senior year, the 6-foot-2 guard has a clear sense of where he wants to be.

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He chose Tennessee over Kansas, Xavier and Ole Miss, committing before he even took any of his other scheduled official visits.

“It was the past history they have in winning,” Ames said on June 9. “I want to be part of a winning program with a great coach like Rick Barnes, so that helped me choose quickly.”

That kind of decisiveness made sense for a player who has spent most of his college career figuring out where he belongs.

How it started for Dai Dai Ames

At Kansas State, the minutes were modest and the role was limited. He started 16 of 31 games, including the final 13 games of the season, and averaged 5.2 points and two assists as a freshman.

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He transferred to Virginia for his sophomore season, where the situation shifted before he could even take the court. Ames had committed to play for coach Tony Bennett, who won the 2019 NCAA title, and announced his retirement just weeks before the season began.

He started 26 of 31 games where his numbers improved to 8.7 points in 25.7 minutes. That season, he was one of three underclassmen in the country to post 46/39/82 shooting splits, the others being Duke’s Kon Knueppel and Michigan State’s Jase Richardson, both of whom were selected in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft.Ames said he learned many lessons about basketball, and himself, during his stop there.“Staying locked in,” Ames said. “Regardless of what happens just stay in the gym, keep putting in the work and control what I can control.”

Ames made the decision to enter the transfer portal again when…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dai-dai-ames-brings-chicago-090209649.html

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Publish date : 2026-06-11 09:02:00

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