re: Tide Hoops | 31-6 (16-2)

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Nate Oats: "It's great to be back in Coleman. We had an exciting weekend out in Portland. It was good for us. We played three quality teams. ... I think we learned a lot about ourselves."

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@AlabamaMBB head coach Nate Oats:

"Injury front, Noah Clowney practiced a little bit today, we'll see how he is tomorrow. He had a bad contusion back there. He'll be a game-time decision."

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@AlabamaMBB head coach Nate Oats:

"We told our guys, this is a maturity game, the mature player is going to be ready to go. We're 7 games in, we're guaranteed 32 games, that's it. We don't have games to throw away. This game Saturday is a big game to see who can be mature."

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Nate Oats gives update on Noah Clowney, Dom Welch, Darius Miles

In his first press availability since the team returned to Tuscaloosa, Alabama head coach Nate Oats gave an injury update on multiple players prior to Saturday's game against South Dakota State.

Freshman forward Noah Clowney (lower-body injury) will be a "game-time decision" according to Oats after suffering a leg injury early in the first half against North Carolina.

"Clowney has practiced today and we'll see how he feels tomorrow," Oats said. "He had a pretty bad contusion and had tingling all down his leg for most of the North Carolina game. He definitely couldn't play in that game and we've held him out for most of the week, trying to see if he can go."

Fellow forward Dom Welch (calf) is still "day-to-day," Oats said. Oats added that his injury is "a long-healing one," but didn't specify if the St. Bonaventure transfer would be out for Saturday.

With Alabama a bit depleted in the front court, the Crimson Tide will get Darius Miles back against the Jackrabbits. Miles has been sidelined with a foot injury to start the season and has only seen action in just two games so far. While he did travel with the team to Portland, Miles only saw the floor for four minutes against UConn turning the ball over twice during that span.

"He had some injuries and couldn't go. We tried to play him in those four minutes and he couldn't go. Part of coming back from injuries is that you have to have your mental side of it too. He wasn't able to practice and we kind of threw him in there hoping that he could give us something, but he just wasn't comfortable playing for us."

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