re: UA Basketball (16-15, 8-10)

quote:

---

— Alabama head coach Nate Oats provided an update on forward Javian Davis who sustained a knee injury against Vanderbilt last week. The redshirt forward played in just five minutes of Alabama’s win over Kansas State over the weekend.

“He practiced the last two days, looked really good,” Oats said. “I just think he was almost there Saturday. When you’re as big as he is and plays as hard as he does, I think you’ve got to have confidence that your knee’s going to hold up. He just didn’t quite have it on Saturday. But he’s looked really good the last two days in practice. He’s been going the full practice.”

— Following the death of Kobe Bryant on Sunday, Alabama gathered together to watch “Dear Basketball” an Academy-Award winning short film written and narrated by the late NBA legend.

“I just wanted the guys to A.) realize what made Kobe special,” Oats said. “If you can emulate even just a little bit of that, it’ll help you. And then B.) appreciate what you have while you have it because there’s no guarantees on tomorrow coming.”

— Over the past five seasons, Alabama owns a 15-14 record against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. The Crimson Tide is 1-2 this season against ranked teams with a win over then-No. 4 Auburn and losses to then-No. 6 North Carolina and then-No. 14 Kentucky. LSU is currently rated No. 22 in the poll. Alabama’s last road win against a ranked opponent came in February of 2018 when it beat then-No. 23 Florida.

“I think (this matchup) is huge,” Oats said. “We’ve got the one really true road win at Vandy, the only time we played a school in their home gym and won. You know, with Vanderbilt’s injuries, that’s not going to be a quality road win.

“We need to get some. If you’re trying to play in the NCAA Tournament, you need resume wins. You need road wins, quality road wins. This is an opportunity we have to get a real quality one.”

— As of Tuesday, Alabama ranked No. 41 in the NET ranking and No. 42 in the KenPom.com rankings. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Crimson Tide as the second team in the “First Four Out” of his projected NCAA Tournament.

“I think you’ve just got to take care of it game by game, and that stuff will take care of itself,” Oats said. “But we weren’t healthy early in the year. I mean, Herb (Jones) played nine minutes against Penn and then didn’t get healthy until after Christmas. Even though he was playing, he couldn’t even shoot free throws for about a month there. So, this is the first time we’ve been healthy.

“I think what we’re playing like now, they’re supposed to be using how you’re playing at the end of the year goes into it, so hopefully, we’re playing our best basketball at the beginning of March.”

— Alabama point guard Kira Lewis Jr. was named the SEC Men’s Basketball Co-Player of the Week on Monday. The sophomore led the Crimson Tide to a pair of victories this past week, averaging 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and 1.5 blocks per game in wins over Vanderbilt and Kansas State. He became the second Alabama player to earn SEC Player of the Week joining John Petty Jr. who earned the recognition for the week of Dec. 23.

— LSU’s last six wins have come by a combined 15 points, four of which were decided by a single possession. The Tigers have made a habit of winning close contests as last season their six overtime games were two shy of matching the NCAA Division I record for most in a season.

---