The offseason work from the Alabama men’s basketball team seems to be paying off to start the season. From better defense to improved scoring, fans have seen both returners and newcomers make improvements from last season.
Taylor Bol Bowen
Bowen has taken leaps as a player this year in his fresh start for the Crimson Tide. The junior forward is a transfer from Florida State and averaged 8 points and 5.2 rebounds last year while in Tallahassee.
To start the year, Bowen has looked impressive, averaging 12.7 points and 4.7 rebounds. Bowen has been shooting the ball at 61.1% on field goals through three games of the season.
Alabama head coach Nate Oats said that if Bowen didn’t “bring it like he brought it,” the team had no chance to win the game against St.Johns.
“He was 100% the X-factor in this game,” Oats said.
Houston Mallette
Coming off a season where the guard only played six games due to injury, Mallette was ready to get back and play for the Crimson Tide.
Mallette has averaged 10.7 points and five rebounds through three games. Alabama needed someone to help carry the load after the loss of guard Jalil Bethea with injury.
Mallette’s production so far has been crucial for the team, which has even gotten him some praise from sophomore guard Labaron Philon.
“He’s one of the best people and teammates I’ve ever had in my whole career playing basketball,” Philon said.
Labaron Philon
Philon himself has had an impressive start to his sophomore campaign, averaging 19.3 points and six assists through two games. He hit many big shots to close out the game for Alabama’s matchup against St. John’s in Madison Square Garden.
Philon was named SEC Player of the Week after his great performances to begin the season.
His shot is much improved from last year, shooting 44.4% on 3-pointers and 63.3% from the field.
While Philon struggled offensively against Purdue, he was a pest defensively, picking up point guard Braden Smith full court all game. Philon ended up with three steals in Alabama’s top 10 loss.
Aden Holloway
Philon’s running mate in the back court, Holloway, did not play in the season opener against North Dakota after dealing with a minor wrist injury. In his first game back, he had 21 points and four assists against a good St. John’s defense.
Holloway followed this up with another 21 point performance while knocking down five three-balls against No. 2 Purdue.
This offseason, Holloway looks to have transformed his body to become a stronger, physical presence on the court.
“Our guards had two turnovers the entire game,” Oats said after the game against St. John’s. “The other five all came from our frontcourt. So for our guards to handle their pressure with only two turnovers just speaks to the level of guards we have.”
Latrell Wrightsell
Wrightsell recently returned from an ACL injury that ended his last season after only eight games.
Wrightsell had 17 points and four steals in his debut this year against St. John’s. He was efficient from the field, shooting 6-13 and hitting four 3-pointers in the win. He did this all while playing only 22 minutes after dealing with a cramp.
Wrightsell did struggle to shoot the ball against Purdue but was still a spark off the bench defensively for Alabama.
As Alabama starts to get into the mountain of their non-conference schedule, the team will hope to use its depth as a strength moving forward, and with a plethora of guards playing at a high level, it will be interesting to see how Oats balances all of their minutes moving forward.
The Crimson Tide looks to bounce back against a talented Illinois squad in Chicago next week.
