Alabama Basketball Has 'Hands Full' With North Carolina Backcourt

The Crimson Tide will face a Tar Heels backcourt whose three starters average a combined 48 points per game.

Mar 28, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels guard RJ Davis (4) controls the ball against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the first half in the semifinals of the West Regional of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— No. 10 Alabama basketball's backcourt shrunk a bit following the ruptured Achilles of starting guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. during Saturday night's game against Oregon, but this position group will very much be needed on both ends of the floor for the Crimson Tide's Wednesday matchup on the road against No. 20 North Carolina.

"They've got one of the better backcourts in the country," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said during Tuesday's press conference. "They're averaging almost 50 points between the three starting guards they've got. They're going to test our defense.

"They have the No. 5 rated offense in the country, I know on KenPom they're good. They run good stuff, they play fast, they actually play faster than we are, so our transition defense is going to have to be great. It's a little different from when we played them in the past. It's a lot more guard-oriented this year, so our guards are going to have to do a better job of guarding their backcourt."

These three guards are RJ Davis, Seth Trimble and Elliot Cadeau, who are leading the Tar Heels in points per game with 18.1, 16.4 and 14.4 respectively. Additionally, Trimble and Cadeau are shooting over 50 percent from the field.

"We played against them last year, I think they're all improved," Oats said. "Cadeau is a really improved shooter, I don't think we'll be able to guard him like we did last year, Trimble as well. You could tell both of those guys have worked on their shots."

As Oats mentioned, Alabama faced this trio last season during the Tide's thrilling 89-87 victory in the Sweet 16. Davis came into that game as one of, if not the best guard in the country, but Alabama shut him down as he went 4-of-20 from the field while Cadeau and Trimble each scored eight points in under 15 minutes of action.

Regardless, Davis has shown improvement this season and Oats isn't assuming the guard will have another rough night against the Crimson Tide, especially since the defensive assignment from that evening in March is no longer at Alabama.

"RJ Davis is the most experienced one, he's been there," Oats said. "He's one of the best guards in the country. He's a high-level shot maker, he can get to the rim and he can pull up. He didn't shoot it particularly well against us. I thought we did a decent job as [Kansas transfer] Rylan Griffen guarded him, kept size on him and tried to run him off the line. I think he was 0-for-9 if I remember correctly but he didn't shoot particularly well. I thought Rylan did a great job guarding him.

"He's a much better shooter than what we saw in that game. We're going to have different matchups ready for him. Is it better to keep a quicker guard to stay in front of him? If you put size on him, he's quicker than those guys but they could challenge his shot better. We've got our hands full. I think we've got a decent plan and we'll see how it goes as the game goes on."

We'll see how the game plan for Davis and the UNC guards unfolds on Wednesday night at 6:15 p.m. CT on ESPN when the No. 10 Alabama Crimson Tide (6-2) goes on the road to face No. 20 North Carolina (4-3) in the ACC/SEC Challenge.

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