TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The notion that Grant Nelson can’t defend died last month. The senior forward put it to bed by holding his own against one of the SEC’s top big men.
After being bullied in his first two SEC games, Nelson found his footing down low during Alabama’s 82-74 win at Mississippi State. The South Dakota State transfer finished a point and a rebound away from a double-double while tallying three steals and a trio of blocks. More importantly, he frustrated Mississippi State forward Tolu Smith late in the game, helping the Crimson Tide escape Starkville with a scrappy win.
Smith recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds but committed a season-high five turnovers while shooting just 5 of 15 from the floor. The last one of those buckets came with 4:32 left in the second half. From there, Alabama’s favorite stache kept him silent.
Nelson has kept things rolling pretty much ever since. Over his last five games, the 6-foot-11, 230-pound forward has averaged 12.4 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting 59.4% from the floor. That included two clutch 3s to help Alabama pull off an 85-76 comeback at Georgia earlier this week. In addition to his offensive output, Nelson has also tallied 7 blocks and a pair of steals during that span.
“He’s been one of our best post defenders,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “He did the best job on Tolu last time we played them. Offensively we’re better because we can pull their 5 away from the rim at little more. Those two 3s he had at the end of the Georgia game, that’s what won us the game.”
With Nick Pringle facing an indefinite suspension and Mo Wague still returning to full strength following a foot injury, Nelson has started at the center positon the last two games. So far, that switch has been successful as he’s scored a combined 32 points on 11 of 15 (73.3%) shooting.
Friday Oats said he’s happy with Nelson’s new role but noted Alabama will need to step up its rebounding efforts around him in order to keep him at the five.
“It’s not that we’ve necessarily taken a step backward when we moved him to the five. He’s actually a better rebounder than a lot our fives, especially on the defensive end. It’s the fact that we no longer have him at the four. That’s where our issues have been.
“If we’re having rebounding issues, we can still play Grant at the five, but it’s looking more like Mo Dioubate, Jarin Stevenson at the four to get some size to help Grant there on the interior with the rebounds.”
Alabama was outrebounded 39-29 during its win at Georgia earlier this week. The Tide will need a much stronger presence down low if it is going to hang with a Mississippi State team that ranks third in the SEC, averaging 39.4 rebounds per game. That will likely require another strong performance from Nelson against Smith.
Alabama (15-6, 7-1 in the SEC) will host Mississippi State (14-7, 3-5) at 7:30 p.m. CT inside Coleman Coliseum. A win would see the Crimson Tide complete its first SEC sweep of the season.
