Nate Oats Announces Two Alabama Basketball Players Will Redshirt This Season

Two Crimson Tide newcomers will sit out the 2024-25 season.

Alabama guard Houston Mallette (95) shoots a three against Memphis at Von Braun Center in Hunsville, AL on Monday, Oct 28, 2024. / Photo by Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama men's basketball head coach Nate Oats announced on Monday evening during his pregame Crimson Tide Sports Network interview that Crimson Tide guards Houston Mallette and Naas Cunningham will redshirt the 2024-25 season.

Alabama's depth has been highly regarded among the college basketball world throughout the offseason, especially at the guard position. It was inevitable that at least one player would have to redshirt.

Mallette, 6-foot-5 senior guard, transferred to Alabama this offseason after three years of consistency across all stat categories at Pepperdine. Mallette's best numbers came in the scoring fields as last season he averaged 14.7 points per game on 43.1 percent from the field, including a stellar 41.5 percent from downtown.

Mallette had a really nice outing in the exhibition against Memphis as shot all five of his attempts from three-point range and made three of them in just a little over 14 minutes of action. However, that amount of time on the floor would be his last ahead of the season.

"Houston Mallette is playing a much different style than what they did at Pepperdine, but he's got a lot of questions he's figuring out," Oats said in a recent press conference.

The 6-foot-7 freshman is listed as a forward but Oats often considers him as a guard. In 2022, Cunningham was rated the No. 1 overall recruit in ESPN's class of 2024, but he couldn't obtain that status by the time he committed. Nonetheless, he still finished at a respectable No. 62 ranking when he committed to Alabama.

Cunningham's height helps him shoot over defenders, but weight has been a question mark as Oats believes there's a lack of aggressiveness. This was a major factor in Oats' decision to redshirt him, and the Alabama head coach mentioned it was a possibility in a recent press conference.

"He's got to get stronger, he came in skinny. He's got super high upside, but he's got to get stronger so he can play a more physical style for us...[Due to the large amount of depth] it would make sense for a guy like that [to redshirt] just because he's gonna have to get a lot stronger and tougher. If he can get tougher physically and put on 15 pounds, 6-foot-8 guards that shoot at the level he shoots at tend to be pros. But he's got to get his intensity level on a consistent basis throughout practice. There's days that he looks like he should be in the NBA but he just has to be a little more consistent."