Alabama F James Rojas Brings out Best in Teammates

Still fully working his way back from injury, Rojas gives the Crimson Tide an edge when he's on the floor according to teammates.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After going through a midseason slump, Alabama basketball has responded with back-to-back conference wins over LSU and Missouri. One thing that was missing during the three-game losing skid according to head coach Nate Oats was toughness. 

Oats has built his brand on a tough, hard-working mentality. The majority of social media posts from the official Alabama men's basketball accounts end with #BlueCollarBasketball. It's an identity Oats wants his team to have that has been absent several times throughout the season. 

At the tail end of that losing streak in the loss at Mississippi State, the Crimson Tide got back a player who fully embodies that blue collar mentality: senior forward James Rojas. 

"He plays really hard," Oats said. "He’s not afraid of physicality. He likes to be physical. He plays hard. He wants to win. He wants this team to win."

He missed the first 16 games of the season rehabbing from an offseason ACL injury, but has seen time off the bench in the last three games. In the most recent game, an 86-76 win over Missouri, Rojas played twelve minutes and had three offensive rebounds which led to six second-chance points during a vital stretch for Alabama to close out the game. 

"Having Ro[jas] back is huge for us," said junior guard Jaden Shackelford. "He’s about all the right stuff. His injuries are unfortunate, but he attacked his rehab when he was out, and obviously he got back at a good time for us. He goes out there and makes big plays. You know, he got six points off three offensive rebound tip-ins today. That was huge for us, and it just goes to show how much he cares about doing the big, tough plays for us.”

Rojas also took a charge during that final stretch of the game, and Oats said he brought the energy when needed. Senior walk-on Britton Johnson, who saw time in the first half and was called "the most blue collar guy we have" by Shackelford, sees that in Rojas. Johnson said Rojas has given this team an edge in his return to action.

"Whenever he’s out there, he kind of raises the standard of what it means to play hard for everyone on the court," Johnson said. "You can’t go in the game with Ro and not play hard, because he just plays his butt off. He makes us better, there’s no doubt about that."

Injuries and adversity are nothing new for the forward. He transferred in to Alabama before the 2019 season from Hutchinson Community College as part of Oats' first recruiting class and also had an ACL injury in that offseason that kept him out for the entire year. 

Because of the adversity Rojas has faced, it makes his teammates like Shackelford, Johnson and Jahvon Quinerly even happier for his success. 

"He’s been through a lot, so I’m really happy for him," Quinerly said. "This team really needed… just having a veteran in Rojas and his toughness that he brings to the team, you know, we were kind of missing that, and we needed that. Just happy to have him back and happy for him.”

During the losing streak, and even in the win against the Tigers on Saturday, Alabama has come out of the gate slow. When Johnson entered the game after the under-16 media timeout, Alabama was already trailing Missouri 14-3. The past two games, Oats has used a different starting lineup and has hinted at still changing it more. 

Also multiple times throughout this season, the Crimson Tide has had issues playing either up or down to their competition level which is another thing Oats wants to change. And that will be tested when Alabama (13-6, 4-3 SEC) travels to Athens on Tuesday night at 5:30 to play the worst team in the league Georgia (5-14, 0-6 SEC.) 

Watching Rojas move and run during the game, one can tell that he's still not back to 100 percent mobility, but that doesn't mean he's not at 100 percent effort. His energy and effort are enough to get playing time against high-level SEC competition. And according to Oats, Rojas might start getting even more of it.

"I was happy for him," Oats said. "He’s a tough kid. He brings us some toughness too. His minutes are probably going to have to increase just with how hard he plays and how hard the team plays when he’s in."