Alabama Basketball Forward James Rojas Looks to Rebound after Injury

After missing last season due to a knee injury that required surgery, Rojas is back to prove his worth for the Crimson Tide in 2020

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — To say that last season was a disappointment to Alabama basketball junior forward James Rojas would be an understatement.

Before the start of the 2019 season, Rojas suffered a season-ending knee injury in practice that required surgery, sidelining him for the year. After transferring in from Hutchinson Community College in Kansas and being one of first-year head coach Nate Oats’ first recruits to join the Crimson Tide, Rojas’ journey was forced to take a different path for his first season at Alabama. It looked like he was destined to play a major role for the Crimson Tide, but his impact would have to wait.

The statement issued by Oats following Rojas’ injury said it all.

“We are disappointed to lose James for the season,” Oats’ statement read. “I feel terrible for him and his family because he was excited to be on campus and contribute to our team. We are fortunate to have an outstanding medical team at the University of Alabama that will be alongside him every step of the way during the rehab process and we are looking forward to having him for two seasons beginning in the 2020-21 season.”

The 2020 season is here, and Rojas is back.

Suiting up after a season-ending injury sidelined him in 2019-20 ⛹🏾‍♂️
On what he brings to the team 💪🏾
On coaching staff "They push you to be the best. It's family here"

Next up in our 𝙂𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙏𝙤 𝙆𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙔𝙤𝙪 series:
James Rojas
#RollTide | #BlueCollarBasketball pic.twitter.com/XVbPOcz5Yf

— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) September 1, 2020

At Hutchinson, the 6-foot-8 forward averaged an impressive 19.0 points per game along with 6.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals in his 26 games played. His efforts earned him All-American honors from both the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Throughout last season, Rojas would be seen on the sidelines with the team and attended almost every practice, shouting encouragement from off the court. After games, Rojas was routinely seen shooting free throws, propped up on the charity stripe by crutches with team personnel rebounding the balls back to him to he didn’t have to painstakingly hobble over to pick them up himself.

Those days are behind him, though. Heading into the 2020 season, Rojas has seemingly seen a lot of practice time. As far as his injury is concerned, he claims that it was ultimately a positive experience for him and gave him time to grow and learn how Oats’ system works at Alabama.

“I’m feeling good right now,” Rojas said. “I feel like I got a positive out of the injury. I mean, I got to sit for a year and learn the system and watch as they all played and I could just like, I could learn what my teammates do and just the system Oats plays in so it was good just to sit out for a year and watch everything going on. I just take that as a positive and just work on getting better and better every day.”

One factor that Oats has reiterated this preseason is team chemistry. With only four returning starters, Alabama basketball must quickly learn to play together and adjust to an almost entirely new team.

While Rojas, redshirt-freshman forward Juwan Gary and sophomore guard Jahvon Quinerly were all a part of the team last season, none saw action due to injury or, in Quinerly’s case, waiver issues with the NCAA. That being said, Rojas spent a very large amount of time with his team despite being sidelined, ultimately resulting in him feeling a part of the team even though he could not contribute on the court.

To Rojas, team chemistry doesn’t seem like a concern.

“I feel like I’ve played with these dudes forever,” Rojas said. “Our chemistry is just there. It’s like we’ve played together before. We all know each other’s strengths and we just push each other towards it and we can play off of each other and it’s good to play in a system like that. You can all make a play and you don’t have to have the ball in your hands the whole time to make a play so it’s good to be able to just play off the ball and have somebody else there to score and it just opens everything else up.”

After a disappointing start to his time at Alabama, Rojas is slated to finally make his debut for the Crimson Tide on Nov. 25 as the Jacksonville State Gamecocks come into Tuscaloosa for the season opener.

While his injury set him back, there’s no doubt that Rojas is ready to get his college basketball career back on track.