Oh, how things can change in a year. Just ask LSU freshman forward Trendon Watford.

At this time last year, Watford was on the way to his third straight AHSAA state championship with Mountain Brook High School. He was also a top target for Alabama basketball and was in attendance at Coleman Coliseum during several games last spring on recruiting visits. As a recruit, the student section chanted Watford’s name trying to convince him to join the Crimson Tide.

In his return to Tuscaloosa Saturday afternoon, Watford was booed every single time he touched the ball. He finished with 18 points and four rebounds in LSU’s 88-82 loss to Alabama. Even though he finished with a scoring total above his 13.8 PPG average, LSU coach Will Wade said it was not his best performance.

“I think he was forcing things a little bit,” Wade said. “I think he wanted to play so well. You’re trying too hard, that’s that way I would characterize it.”

Watford took 17 shots, the most by any LSU player. Wade said Alabama had a good defensive game plan to limit Watford.

In Alabama’s first matchup with LSU on Jan. 29, Watford finished with 17 points and a career high 15 rebounds in the Tigers 90-76 win. Behind Watford’s team-leading effort, Alabama was out rebounded by LSU 49-31 in the loss in January.

This time, LSU only out rebounded Alabama by two. Alabama coach Nate Oats said he was proud of his team’s rebounding performance on Saturday. He was specifically pleased with the effort from junior Herbert Jones, who finished with 17 rebounds just two weeks after wrist surgery.

“[Jones] was an absolute warrior,” Wade said. “You can see why he’s a winner. He’s a great kid. Him and Watford are best friends.”

Jones and Watford grew up competing with and against each other as top players in the state of Alabama.

“Knowing that I was going to kind of be shorthanded on the offensive end, I just knew that I had to impact the game in other ways,” Jones said about his 17-rebound performance.

Watford also got serenaded with chants of “traitor, traitor, traitor” whenever he stepped to the free throw line. Alabama may have missed out on Watford in the 2019 recruiting class, but they did land freshman Jaden Shackelford who finished with 27 points, including six clutch points during the last 1:33 of the game.

Sophomore point guard Kira Lewis Jr. finished with 28 points, and Wade said his team had no answers for Shackelford or Lewis. Containing the production from Watford helped Alabama pick up a much- needed Quadrant 1 win and momentum it can carry into a home matchup with Texas A&M on Wednesday.

“It was our last quad one home game, so we just had to go out, make a statement and play hard,” Jones said.