TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball is trimming down its loaded roster. Prior to Monday’s opener against UNC Asheville, Nate Oats announced the Crimson Tide plans to redshirt Houston Mallette and Naas Cunningham this year.

Mallette, a senior transfer from Pepperdine, has one season of eligibility remaining. Cunningham, a true freshman, will have four seasons to play.

"We decided, kind of talking to them and their families, we're gonna redshirt Houston Mallette and Naas Cunningham," Oats told Crimson Tide Sports Network. "Houston, more he missed the entire summer with some knee injuries. And for his one year of college basketball he has left, he wants to have the best offseason he can going into it. And Naas, it's conducive to him putting some weight on. It's a lot easier to put some weight on when you're not playing games."

Mallette joined Alabama this offseason after averaging 14.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game for Pepperdine last season. The 6-foot-5 guard shot 43.1% from the field, 41.5% from 3 and 81.7% from the free throw line. He was an All-WCC honorable mention.

"He's trying to be a pro," Oats told reporters after the game. "And without having the offseason I think we'd have put him behind the eight ball playing him this year. So we had a long discussion with him, his father and we all decided what would be best is if he really learned how to play the way we want to play. Have an entire year and half with us now going into his year with us next year and he's gonna make us great in practice. He's gonna make us great on the bench. He's gonna make us great just being in the program."

Cunningham signed with Alabama as the No. 50 overall player in this year’s class. The 6-foot-7, 175-pound forward averaged 13.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game for the Rolling Loud in the Overtime Elite League.

"We kind of took that one all the way up until this past weekend," Oats said. "He's gotta get more physical. He's gotta put some weight on. With our depth, I wasn't sure how many minutes he was gonna play in some of these games...

"We still think Naas has a ridiculously high upside. He's 6-foot-7, 6-foot-8 guard that shoots it really well and has all kinds of athleticism. He's just gotta put on a lot of weight and figure out kind of how we play."

Mallette and Cunningham did not warm up with the rest of the team during the pregame shootaround. Without the duo, the Tide’s roster includes 11 active scholarship players.