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The Tuscaloosa News
Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats explains redshirt decisions for pair of newcomers
- Story byThe Tuscaloosa News
- Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats explains redshirt decisions for pair of newcomers
Along with a starting five that should be one of the most formidable in the nation, Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats believes he's got outstanding depth on the bench to begin the 2024-25 season as well. That means minutes will be hard to come by for some talented players.
Two fewer, however, as of Monday.
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Oats announced that freshman Naas Cunningham and senior guard Houston Mallette will redshirt this season, but for very different reasons: Cunningham will sit out to add some size, while Mallette, a transfer from Pepperdine, will look to fully recover from knee trouble.
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"Houston came to us with some knee issues and he didn't practice all summer. He's an unbelievable kid. I'm super happy he's in the program. You talk about high-character kids, he's at the top of that list. But we wanted to do what was right by him and give him a full offseason in our program," Oats said Monday following Alabama's 110-54 season-opening win over UNC-Asheville. "We play so much different than (the system) he played at Pepperdine and he's trying to be a pro. And without having the offseason, I think we'd have put him behind the 8-ball playing him this year, so we had a long discussion with him and his father and we decided what would be best is for him to really learn to play the way we want to play, have an entire year and a half with us going into his year with us next year."
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According to Oats, it didn't appear that Cunningham would command many minutes this season as a freshman, but the coach remains convinced of his potential.
"We took that (decision) all the way up until this past weekend. He's got to get more physical and put some weight on. With our depth, I wasn't sure how many minutes he was going to play. ... We still think Naas has ridiculously high upside. He's a 6-7, 6-8 guard who shoots it really well with all kinds of athleticism," Oats said. "He's just got to put on weight and figure out how we play. With Naas, particularly, if you're playing in games, you can't really lift. He's going to lift, get his diet and nutrition the way it needs to be. He'll be able to lift the day before a game, the day of a game, and focus on putting some weight on so he can be a lot more physical to play for us next year."
UA started Mark Sears, Cliff Omoruyi, Derrion Reid, Labaron Philon and Jarin Stevenson against the Bulldogs. Without Mallette and Cunningham, Alabama's bench consisted of Aden Holloway, Latrell Wrightsell, Grant Nelson, Mo Dioubate, Aiden Sherrell and Max Scharnowski. The Crimson Tide is also anticipating the return of Chris Youngblood, a Tuscaloosa native and transfer from the University of South Florida, who is expected to return to action in time for SEC play in January, if not sooner.
Reach Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama basketball's Nate Oats explains redshirts for two newcomers
