Where Nate Oats Sees Jahvon Quinerly Fitting Back into Alabama's Lineup

The senior point guard made his return from injury Tuesday night and adds more depth to a Crimson Tide lineup off to a 3-0 start.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nate Oats is dealing with a good problem for a basketball coach to have. 

His team is 3-0 and with senior guard Jahvon Quinerly making an early return from his ACL injury, and Darius Miles and transfer guard Dom Welch waiting in the wings to come back from injury, the depth of Alabama basketball continues to get stronger. 

Quinerly had his first appearance Tuesday night at South Alabama since suffering the ACL injury in the final game of last season, playing four minutes in the win. The guard has been a major contributor for Alabama over the last two seasons, winning the SEC Tournament MVP in 2021 and starting 27 games last season. But for now, he won't be in the starting lineup. 

"Obviously to start, we’ll bring Jahvon off the bench," Oats said Thursday ahead of Alabama's matchup with Jacksonville State. "He’s going to be on a minutes restriction tomorrow night. We just tried to get his feet wet a little bit against South. We’re not gonna just throw him in there. His knee’s close—he’s been cleared by the doctor for a couple of weeks—his knee’s close to being 100 percent, but mentally you’ve got to trust it too. The mental side of the game’s a big deal, particularly with him, so we wanted him to get some confidence."

During his MVP run in the 2021 SEC Tournament, Quinerly came off the bench, so it's a role he's used to. Oats also used graduate Noah Gurley as an example of an older player coming off the bench right now that could also be used as a starter. 

Early in the season, Alabama is still figuring out its rotations and rhythms offensively, but defensively, the Crimson Tide is out to a scalding start. Alabama is first in the country in rebounding and only allowing 56 points per game through the first three games. 

Once Quinerly is back to full health and Welch and Miles get back in the mix, Alabama will have 12 scholarship players to work with. Oats said he will have to figure some things out, but he reminds the players that how they play their minutes is more important than when they get to play them— whether that's from the opening tip or at the first media timeout. 

"I think any good Division I team has to deal with that because there's no way you're going to be a great team with only five good players," Oats said. "We have eight or nine guys that probably could start. We probably won't start our five best if you will. You’ve gotta have a good mix in the starting lineup of great role players, creators, rebounders, screeners, all that. You also gotta have it coming off the bench. You need scoring off the bench— you don't want to start your five best scores. So we're just gonna have to continue to teach guys the importance of that."

Oats said Welch and Miles are still day-to-day and not expected to play Friday night against Jacksonville State. The two have not been practicing this week either, but Oats is hopeful they will both be back for the Phil Knight Invitational over Thanksgiving week. 

See also:

Alabama Basketball's Suffocating Defense Looks Like Its Biggest Strength

How to Watch: Alabama Men's Basketball vs. Jacksonville State

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