Film study: Breaking down Jahvon Quinerly’s resurgence against Arkansas

Jahvon Quinerly is polarizing among Alabama fans just two seasons after being named the SEC Tournament MVP in 2021. Saturday, the senior point guard resembled his old self, recording 16 points, seven assists and three rebounds on 7 of 14 shooting during Alabama's 86-83 home win over Arkansas.

"He’s proven he can play at a high level," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said following Saturday's game. "We’ve been trying to get him to get his defense better. His offense has been getting better and better as the weeks go on in practice. I thought he was much more engaged on the defensive end this game. I’m looking right now, we were 48 points per 100 possession better with him on the floor than when he was off the floor tonight. So offensively, we were obviously a lot better with him on the floor tonight. A lot, lot better.

“There’s gonna be teams that we play that that’s gonna be a bigger difference with him on the floor than otherwise. Defensively, he’s gotta get a little better for us, even tonight. I think he’s been trying hard. He gives up some size sometimes when we switch, and we’ve been switching a lot."

Recently, Quinerly's defensive limitations coupled with his struggles with ball control have caused some to question his value to No. 2 Alabama's on-court productivity. However, when he orchestrates the offense with precision and poise, there isn't a player in the SEC who creates more advantages for their team.

Quinerly did just that against Arkansas on Saturday. Here's a look at his big day.

Compared to Alabama's other ball-handlers — Jaden Bradley, Mark Sears and Brandon Miller — Quinerly is the only player who can consistently beat defenders without a ball screen in the half-court.

Here is one of Alabama’s patented second-side actions. Sears and Noah Clowney open up with a two-man game on the right wing. Sears then swings it to Quinerly, who beats a premier 6-foot-7 defender in Jordan Walsh before finishing with a crafty reverse lay-up.

On this possession, Quinerly explodes past Anthony Black, a defender in foul trouble at this point, and switches hands on another crafty reverse lay-up.

Arkansas is a heavy-switching team, but Quinerly makes it tough for defenses to make scramble switches when there’s no screening or off-ball movement. As seen on the above possession, the McDonald's All-American is able to make things happen on the fly.

Four minutes later, Alabama ran an almost identical formation with Brandon Miller standing above the free-throw line, making it appear as if he was about to set a ghost screen (a fake ball screen after which the would-be screener sprints away into space). This prevented the defender from making a play at the nail and walled off an explosive drive attempt from Quinerly.

Over the past three seasons, Alabama is 24-5 when Quinerly scores 15 or more points in a game. To take it further, the Crimson Tide are 9-0 when Quinerly scores at least 15 points and dishes out five assists. He did so on Saturday afternoon.

"Shoot, we don’t win the game if he doesn’t play the way he does in the second half," Oats aid. "We don’t have a chance. We needed him tonight. We’re gonna need him moving forward. It’s good to see him getting his swagger back."