TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball needed every one of its bigs to survive a rock fight at Texas A&M over the weekend. Tuesday night, the No. 4 Crimson Tide will likely lean on its assortment of guards to corral No. 21 Ole Miss.
The Rebels join the Tide as one of three remaining undefeated teams in SEC play, winning comfortably in matchups against Georgia (63-51), Arkansas (73-66) and LSU (77-65). That success has been spurred on by a quartet of guards all averaging 10 or more points per game.
Virginia Tech transfer Sean Pedulla leads the way for Ole Miss, averaging 14.1 points while shooting 40.3% from the arc. Jaylen Murray leads the Rebels with 4.1 assists per game and is averaging 11.8 points while shooting 41.5% from deep. Matthew Murrell isn’t too far behind with 11.5 points per game, while Dre Davis is averaging 10.7 points and 5.1 rebounds.
Alabama is well aware of the talented backcourt it will face Tuesday night, as head coach Nate Oats recruited Murrell out of high school in the 2020 class before pursuing Pedulla in the transfer portal this past summer.
“We’re going to have to do a good job. They’ve got really good guards,” Oats said. “Ton of respect for their staff. They do a really good job of moving you around, a lot of motion concepts. And then they’re attacking, so you’re busy guarding some action and the action’s got some real players in it, so you can’t ignore it. Then all of a sudden, somebody’s beating somebody. So you’ve got to have some good on-ball defense.”
That’s a much different challenge than what Alabama faced in its recent wins at South Carolina and Texas A&M, two teams that rely heavily on beefier bigs rather than their backcourt.
Ole Miss doesn't have a guard taller than 6-foot-6. Outside of starting forward Malik Dia (6-foot-9, 250 pounds) the only other Rebel 6-foot-9 or taller is freshman John Bol (7-2, 210), who averages just 4.5 minutes per game.
“This is definitely a game where we could probably go a little bit smaller for sure than what we did the last game and even maybe than what we’ve done in the past,” Oats said. “With [Chris] Youngblood playing as well as he has and Labaron [Philon] and Mark [Sears] and [Aden] Holloway all playing as well as they have, keeping three of those four out there for longer stretches might make more sense this game.
Sears, the preseason favorite for SEC Player of the Year, has been red-hot recently, scoring 20 or more points in seven of his last 8 games. That includes a 27-point performance at Texas A&M last time out. Philon has also been productive as Alabama’s other starting guard, averaging 12.1 points and 4.0 assists while earning SEC Freshman of the Week honors three times.
As for the third guard, Holloway and Youngblood are beginning to find their footing after joining the Tide from the transfer portal this summer.
Holloway is arguably Alabama’s best 3-point shooter, knocking down 39.1% of his attempts from beyond the arc. However, the Auburn transfer has also been increasingly effective inside the arc, ranking fourth in the SEC and 218th nationally with a 61.9% 2-point field goal percentage.
“We want him to get more aggressive,” Oats said. “I think he figures it out when he gets in the lane pretty well. He’s got unbelievable touch. We don’t take many non-rim 2s, but I’m more than comfortable with him shooting some of those paint floaters.”
Meanwhile, Youngblood is coming off his best performance of the season, scoring 14 points on 3 of 6 shooting from beyond the arc while also pulling down five rebounds. The South Florida transfer was the Co-American Conference Player of the Year last season, averaging 15.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 41.6% from 3-point range.
“We knew what we were getting with him from South Florida,” Oats said following Alabama’s win at Texas A&M. “He’s the conference player of the year. He shoots at a really high clip. He just had to get off that surgery, get himself back comfortable. I told him we were gonna get him some shots this game. We kind of tried to put him up with the press to have some other guys handle it, get him open. He goes 3 of 6. He made a bunch of tough plays too. He’s a winner. He’s a competitor. He’s a leader. You want him in.”
Taking care of the basketball will be key Tuesday night, as Ole Miss leads the SEC with a 6.44 turnover rate. Pedula leads the way, averaging 2.3 steals and is followed by Murrell (2.1) and Murray (1.7).
Alabama (14-2, 3-0) and Ole Miss (14-2, 3-0) are set to tip off at 6 p.m. CT on Tuesday. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
