There is no mistaking what was the inflection point within Alabama’s basketball season, which has produced a nine-game winning streak over the past month and placed the Tide within the nation’s best teams.
A loss to Western Kentucky on Dec. 19 and what amounted to a suspension of senior guard John Petty and junior forward James Rojas for the next game seemed to refocus Alabama players entering an SEC schedule that has yet to include a loss.
“We kind of had a couple guys think about [why they] really wanted to be here, what [they wanted] out of this season. Take a week, [then I] kind of met with the team,” coach Nate Oats said Monday on the College Hoops Today podcast of the team’s 4-3 start. “Once we came back from that ... I thought the camaraderie, the chemistry, the energy was where we wanted it. We’ve kind of taken off since then.”
The uptick in playing intensity and effort has been noticeable during Alabama’s 8-0 conference start, its best since 1986-87. The school is ranked No. 9 in the NCAA’s NET rating and has reached 14-year highs in polls. ESPN’s latest NCAA tournament bracket projection Tuesday places Alabama as a No. 2 seed, which would be the program’s highest since 2002.
More than seven weeks still remain between now and the opening round of the NCAA tournament, which will be held entirely among Indianapolis-area sites this March.
The challenge for Oats in the interim will be maintaining his team’s energy on the floor while also keeping his players healthy enough to play their best basketball in the games that will matter the most.
For senior forward Herb Jones, his hustle will never be in question but his availability might. Jones, a relentless defender, was limited last season by elbow and wrist injuries that prevented his offensive game from making a jump.
This season, Jones has blossomed into one of the SEC’s best players, averaging 12.9 points per game while leading the team in three-point percentage (48.1) and rebounds per game (5.7). But more injuries have cropped up, including not finishing a win at Kentucky earlier this month with a dislocated finger and briefly leaving last Saturday’s win over Mississippi State after falling hard on his hip under the basket.
Jones’ toughness was evident in playing through each injury — Oats quipped Monday that if Jones is able to walk, he will play — but Oats has also kept managing the health of his roster in mind. Jones did not participate in Sunday’s practice.
“I tell them all the time: it’s my job to make sure that we don’t go too long [in practice] to where you’re not as fresh as you can possibly be,” Oats said Monday. “It’s your job to go as hard as you can in whatever we have planned. I could tell that they were a little bit dragging [in practice]. It’s getting to the end of January. We’ve been going a while. We’ve just got to be smart with how much time we put on them. I’m not going to overdo it.”
Jones was not the only player banged up in Saturday’s game. Senior forward Alex Reese also fell hard on his knee in the second half before later returning to the floor wearing a pad over it.
Alabama was already playing without senior center Jordan Bruner, who is sidelined until mid-February following meniscus surgery, as well as Rojas, who has an undisclosed medical condition after earlier dealing with a wrist injury. Guard Jahvon Quinerly also missed three games with a medical condition earlier this month and banged up his knee in his first game back.
Oats said during his radio show Monday evening that Rojas has not practiced but will “try to give it a go” when Alabama hosts Kentucky in Coleman Coliseum on Tuesday night.
The second-year Tide coach realizes health is among the potential tripping hazards for his team’s historic pace.
“We’ve got to give an honest effort every time out. Coach has got to be smart about how hard you’re going,” he said. “I think when you look -- last year we didn’t get the opportunity to play in the SEC tournament -- but my four years at Buffalo, I think we were peaking in March every year there. We won three out of those four [Mid-American Conference] tournaments, but we were playing our best basketball come March.
“In order to be doing that here, we got to be smart with nicks, bruises.”
The urgency to keep winning, however, still exists.
“You’re getting into late January,” Oats said Monday. “Bodies are tired. Everybody is banged up. I [asked] the guys: how many guys in Division I basketball are 100 percent right now? There’s not that many. You’re going to have to play through some nicks, bruises, and you’re going to have to bring it if you want to be a quality team.”
Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.
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