Alex Reese Stepping Up for Alabama Basketball When It Needs Him Most

Aside from the Crimson Tide's game at Missouri, Reese has been a key contributor for the team over three of its last four games

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — With Alabama basketball suffering from multiple injuries at the moment, it will be crucial in the coming final weeks of the Crimson Tide's regular season that players step up to continue the team's momentum that it has been building since December.

A key player that has stepped up over the last couple of weeks is senior forward Alex Reese.

While Reese had a relatively slow start to the season, he has been playing some of his best basketball as of late. On Jan. 30 at Oklahoma in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, Reese totaled a season-high 15 points along with a steal, a block, two assists and five rebounds. While initially coming off the bench in games for Alabama, Reese has been forced to start due to injuries to grad-student forward Jordan Bruner and senior wing Herb Jones.

With Friday's announcement that redshirt-freshman forward Juwan Gary will also be out multiple games due to a shoulder injury, Reese stepping up for the Crimson Tide is now more important than ever.

While Reese enjoys coming off the bench, he said on Friday that when Bruner went down, he knew that he had to step up into his place.

“I like coming off the bench so I told coach that at the beginning of the year,” Reese said. “So when Jordan went down, I knew I had to change my role and step up a little bit and bring a little bit more things to the table. I fell off a couple of games but I gotta pick it back up — keep playing hard and just doing everything to help the team win.”

Alabama has played three games since that Oklahoma game, facing Kentucky in Coleman Coliseum followed by Missouri and South Carolina on the road. In each of those games, Reese has displayed effort that was absent from him at the beginning of the season.

Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats noted Reese's increase in effort and said that he enjoys seeing his attitude towards his role on the team.

“If you look at Reese’s last four games, he played really well for two — he didn’t play as well against Missouri — and I thought he played great against South Carolina,” Oats said. “So he’s really had three really good games out of the last four. We just need him to give the effort he gave against South Carolina every night out. Take the good shots when his feet are set and he’s stepping in and he’s making threes — getting back on the offensive boards like he was against South Carolina — just do all that stuff.

"If he does all that, I mean, he’s really good for us and we’re a lot better when he’s in the game. That’s what I anticipate him doing from now on."

Reese struggled on the road at Missouri, but so did the entire team in the Crimson Tide's first SEC loss of the season. However, at South Carolina on Tuesday night, the senior forward accounted for nine points, four rebounds and an assist. On a night where Alabama ultimately won 81-78, all nine of those points mattered.

Oats noted Reese's lack of production at Missouri, but said that if he plays like he did at South Carolina, everything should turn out just fine.

"He and I have had really good conversations," Oats said. "I’m really proud of his entire attitude this whole year. I can’t say enough about what he’s meant as a senior. Hopefully we get the Reese we got at South Carolina moving forward from now on but he was good the two games before the Missouri one. The Missouri one was just — you know, he didn’t play well but he wasn’t the only one that didn’t play well. A lot of our guys didn’t play well in that Missouri game to be honest with you.”