Already playing without fifth-year center Jordan Bruner, Alabama’s front court will be down another player for at least the next few games.
Redshirt freshman forward Juwan Gary is out for Saturday’s game against Georgia and beyond because of a left shoulder injury he sustained early in Tuesday’s win at South Carolina.
“They looked at everything. No surgery needed,” coach Nate Oats said Friday. “It’s just a matter of how quickly he can get through rehab. Probably a couple weeks, maybe a little longer. It was pretty bad. I mean, the injury wasn’t good. Stuff was messed up there. He’s still super sore. It’s [going to] be depending on how quickly he can get through rehab. He won’t be available for the next few games, at least.”
Gary, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, made his first collegiate start Tuesday while playing in his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. He suffered the injury less than three minutes into the game while trying to make a rebound under the basket.
After initially seeing his playing time increase early in the season because of his high-effort style, the 6-foot-6 Gary had settled into being an important part of the Tide’s front court rotation during SEC play.
Alabama will have to play at least its next few games without Gary and Bruner, who remains out after Jan. 13 knee surgery and was initially expected to return by mid-to-late February.
The absence of Bruner has thrust senior Alex Reese back into a starting role, while both players remaining out means senior forward Herb Jones will likely need to continue playing through a lower back and glute injury. The coaching staff had recently discussed sitting Jones for a game to allow him to heal faster.
“With Juwan out, with Bruner out, it would be hard to sit Herb, just with our depth and everything,” Oats said Friday. “We’re trying to win the league. We’re only two-thirds of the way through the league. We’ve got a third of the league season yet to go. We’ve got to push through and try to win this.”
Alabama, at 11-1 in SEC play, currently holds a three-and-a-half game lead in the conference with six games remaining. Oats told the Aaron Torres Podcast this week that he would consider sitting Jones if Alabama had a three-game lead with four games left.
“The other thing is playing doesn’t set [Jones] back any further,” Oats added Friday. “Only if he takes a hard fall, which is why we’ve been keeping him out of practice live stuff. But getting out, doing game-speed drills, none of that sets him back. We talked about [sitting him], but it’s hard. These teams are good. Georgia [is good]. Herb’s arguably our best player.
“He told me before he was probably closer to 40 percent. Now he’s approaching maybe 70 percent. It would be great to get him to 100, but siting him out for a week doesn’t guarantee that’s going to get him to 100. I mean, if he plays and he doesn’t take a hard fall, he’s gonna be just as good the next day as if he didn’t play.”
Oats said a final call about Jones’ status Saturday will be made before the 2:30 p.m. CT tip off in Coleman Coliseum.
“He’s gonna probably want to play,” Oats conceded.
Although Alabama is now dealing with another injured forward, Oats said Friday that junior forward James Rojas is “getting really healthy again” after missing time last month because of a medical condition that caused him to lose weight. Rojas played 18 minutes in Tuesday’s game, his most since Jan. 12.
Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.
The Link LonkFebruary 13, 2021 at 02:15AM
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Nate Oats updates health of Juwan Gary, Herb Jones - AL.com
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