John Petty Jr. is expected to return this season for Alabama Basketball.
Alabama Basketball earned a critical 90-86 come-from-behind home victory over South Carolina on Saturday to keep their long-shot NCAA hopes alive. Kira Lewis Jr. and Jahavian Davis combined for 45 points to lead the way for the Crimson Tide (16-13, 8-8), who overcame a slow start and were without injured guard John Petty Jr. Alabama fell behind 12-1 as the Tide went over five minutes to begin the game without a field goal. But the Crimson Tide finished the game with nine 3-pointers and 33 of 47 from the charity stripe.
“We could have easily folded, especially knowing we had built-in excuses as to why we could lose this with injuries,” Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said. “Our guys fought back and showed a ton of character and resiliency.
Lewis topped the 20-point mark for the second straight game as the 6-3 sophomore finished with 25 points on 7-for-16 shooting, including 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and 8-for-10 from the charity stripe. Davis posted his first career double-double with a season-high 20 points along with 10 caroms. The 6-9 freshman made four of seven shots from the field and 11 of 15 attempts from the charity stripe. Herbert Jones added 10 points and nine rebounds despite continuing to play primarily with one arm as a result of a wrist injury.
Alabama got good news on Friday that Petty, who missed his first game of the campaign after suffering an elbow injury earlier in the week in a loss to Ole Miss. Petty could be back before the end of the regular season but he will almost certainly be ready by the SEC Tournament starting March 11.
The MRI and x-ray came back alright,” Oats said. “He has a hyperextension and slight ligament strain. No live activity in practice. It is getting better every day. He has had two good days of therapy with our trainer.”
Petty, the team’s second-leading scorer at 15 points a game, tops the team with 3.0 treys a contest while making them at a 45% clip — he ranks No.1 in the conference in both categories. The 6-5 junior is also producing 6.6 rebounds, and 1.1 steals a contest while making 47% of his shots from the field. Petty can light up a scoreboard when he gets hot as he has eight 20-point games, which includes a season-high 39 against Samford on Dec. 18.
Petty is the third player in Oats’ nine-man rotation that has missed time this season. Jones and James “Beetle” Bolden (illness) have missed four games apiece. Plus, junior college transfer James Rojas (ACL), Juwan Gary (knee), and Villanova transfer Jahvon Quinerly (academics) have missed the entire season.
Alabama enters the final week of the regular tied for seventh place in the SEC along with Tennessee and Texas A&M. Bama will host Vanderbilt on March 3, before closing the regular season at Missouri on Saturday. The Crimson Tide beat both teams earlier this season and are giving a 47.7% chance of winning out with the game at Missouri expected to be a significant challenge.
Even if Alabama wins out, they will definitely need at least one big win in the SEC Tournament to put them back on the NCAA Tournament committees radar. The Crimson Tide last made NCAA Tournament in 2018.
While I don’t believe that Alabama is an NCAA Tournament team, the Crimson Tide are still being considered because they have an NCAA NET Rating of 40. However, the Tide are just 4-7 on the road and 6-9 away from Tuscaloosa overall. Bama has only two Quad I wins along with four Quad III losses. Moreover, the Crimson Tide are one of the worst defensive teams in the nation.