Juwan Gary's Return Signifies Positive Momentum for Alabama Basketball

While the Crimson Tide weren't able to get the job done at Arkansas, the team is back to full strength for the first time since Jan. 12

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It was a tough morning to wake up on Thursday for Alabama basketball fans.

On Wednesday night, Alabama suffered its worst lost of the season at Arkansas, falling to the Razorbacks 81-66. While there is certainly a discussion to be had regarding officiating and the impact it had on the game, it wasn’t the only factor in the Crimson Tide’s loss.

Fortunately for Alabama, there were some positives to emerge the game. Chiefly among those positives was the return of redshirt-freshman forward Juwan Gary, who had missed the last two games due to a shoulder injury suffered at South Carolina on Feb. 9.

According to Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats, Gary’s return along with increased production from grad-student forward Jordan Bruner — who played much better than he did in his first game back last Saturday against Vanderbilt — were essentially the two positive takeaways from Wednesday’s loss.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of positives in my opinion tonight,” Oats said. “Juwan Gary was a positive; first game back. Jordan Bruner was a positive. He looked a lot more comfortable. When he hit those four threes in the first half [it] kinda got us back to a one-point game. So guys coming off injuries, it was good to see Bruner and Juwan play as good as they did. Other than that there wasn’t a whole lot of positives.”

Gary finished Wednesday night’s game with nine points, nine rebounds and two blocks in just under 17 minutes on the court. Bruner finished with 14 points — including four threes late in the first half that pulled Alabama within one — along with six rebounds and an assist.

While the game might not have gone how Alabama basketball or its fans might have liked, both Gary and Bruner making an impact in their first game together on the court since Jan. 12 is a good sign for this Crimson Tide squad. Since their departure due to injuries, Alabama has been limited in the bigs department and has had to resort from increased minutes from junior wing Herb Jones and senior forward Alex Reese. While both Jones and Reese performed relatively well during that period, having the added depth of Bruner and Gary back will most definitely help the Crimson Tide as it’s quest for a regular-season SEC title continues.

Oats said on Wednesday night that if every player on his team played with the effort that Gary did on Wednesday night, then losses like Arkansas wouldn’t happen.

“He was big,” Oats said. “Nine points, nine rebounds in 16-and-a-half minutes. His effort was great. He had four [offensive] boards. He was all over the place. He was playing hard. We gotta get some more guys to play that hard. It’s kind of his deal. He’s an effort guy, he’s a high-energy guy — athletic — he goes hard.

“Some of the more skill guys, if they played that hard some of those points and stuff would take care of themselves if you went as hard as Juwan did. So it’s great to have him back. He gave us solid minutes.”

While there might not be a lot of positive energy in the Alabama fan base on Thursday morning, the return of Gary and the solid performance from Bruner is a sign of possible good things to come for the Crimson Tide. Alabama is still just one win away from clinching a share of the SEC title and has a relatively easy road to do so.

Alabama takes one last road trip on Saturday to play at Mississippi State before returning home to play Auburn in its final regular-season game. If Alabama wins both games, it clinches the SEC title. It could even clinch with a win on Saturday should Arkansas also lose to LSU.

For now, Oats says that the team should focus on what it can control. While the whistle might have been against the Crimson Tide on Wednesday night, to Oats it’s no excuse for poor effort.

“You look at a guy like Juwan Gary who’s playing under 17 minutes: nine points, nine rebounds,” Oats said. “I think if everybody just plays with that kind of energy Juwan had, and then the points will take care of themselves. The shots will come.”