TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It’s been a while since Herbert Jones faced Trendon Watford on the basketball court. Jones estimates his most recent meeting against his long-time friend occurred sometime last summer, but he doesn’t recall much from the pickup-style setting.

Their next matchup figures to be much more memorable. Jones, a junior forward at Alabama, will be reunited with Watford, a freshman forward at LSU, as the Crimson Tide travels to Baton Rouge, La., to take on the No. 22 Tigers on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. CT.

“I mean, he’s my best friend,” said Jones, who claims he talks to Watford almost every day. “I grew up with him, played on the same AAU team, so I mean I know him pretty well.”

The two were both prized prospects in the state of Alabama. Jones, a former Rivals100 recruit signed with the Crimson Tide in 2017. Many Alabama fans were optimistic Watford, the No. 16 overall player in last year’s class, would follow him to Tuscaloosa. However, after Nate Oats replaced Avery Johnson in late March, the first-year head coach was left with little time to lock down the state’s top prospect.

“We got in late on that. I got the job when that was pretty much already done,” Oats said. “When we tried to recruit Trendon, he wasn’t officially committed yet, but (LSU) had put a lot of groundwork in there.”

Added Jones: “It would have been cool to have him here, but he made his decision, and I mean he’s been doing well down there.”

Watford is exactly the type of player Alabama could use this season after losing two of its bigs — Juwan Gary (ACL) and James Rojas (ACL) — to season-ending injuries in the fall. The 6-foot-9, 235-pound Birmingham native leads all SEC freshmen with 6.8 rebounds per game and ranks second among that group with 13.2 points per game.

“He’s really versatile taking you off the dribble,” Oats said. “He can shoot. I mean, shoot, I’ve watched him enough in recruiting to know he can shoot. He’s only made two 3s in conference play, but you’ve still got to respect his shot.

“He’s more of a driver now, kind of that mid-post, that old-school NBA where they put you there in the mid-post, kind of elbow area where he played a lot out of. He’s a smart player. He picks up fouls. Get your hand in there, he’s got the little rip through. He’s been well-trained, and they play through him a lot for a freshman.”

Fittingly, the Alabama player best suited to match up against Watford is Jones. The 6-foot-7, 205-pound Greensboro native is known for his gritty style of play and leads the Crimson Tide with 15 charges taken while ranking second on the team with 6.2 rebounds per game. Oats said it would be “ideal” to put Jones on Watford but stated the matchup will be dictated by the style of the game

“I’m just going there following the game plan,” Jones said. “I’m not trying to get outside of anything I do or go outside anything the coach wants me to do. So I’m just going down there to play my game.”

Another player capable of stopping Watford in the lane is forward Javian Davis, who is recovering from a knee injury he sustained last week against Vanderbilt. The redshirt freshman forward played in just five minutes of Alabama’s win over Kansas State over the weekend but is said to be recovering well from the injury this week.

“He practiced the past two days, looked really good,” Oats said. “I just think he was almost there Saturday. When you’re as big as he is and play as hard as he does, you’ve got to have full confidence that your knee’s going to hold up, and he didn’t quite have it on Saturday. He looked really good the last two days in practice.”

Alabama (12-7, 4-2 in the SEC) will need all the help it can get if it wants to hand LSU (15-4, 6-0) its first loss in conference play. The matchup will feature two of the SEC’s best rebounding teams as the Crimson Tide leads the conference with 41.5 rebounds per game while the Tigers rank third averaging 39.8.

Rebounding was an issue for Alabama during its win over Kansas State as the Crimson Tide allowed the Wildcats to hold a 22-3 advantage in offensive boards. Meanwhile, LSU is coming off a 69-67 victory over Texas in which it outrebounded the Longhorns, 36-23.

“We’ve just got to be tough, box out and don’t give up any offensive boards,” Jones said. “It’s that simple.”

As for his much-anticipated matchup against Watford, Jones doesn't seem to be stressing about that too much either.

“It’s always fun, friendly competition,” he said. “I mean tomorrow it will be kind of the same, but it will just be a team deal.”

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