TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball will need to find a way to gel together without its “glue guy.” The Crimson Tide will be without its best defender for the next few weeks as Herbert Jones underwent surgery on a fractured wrist Saturday.

Following Saturday night’s 82-78 loss to Arkansas, Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats gave a prognosis on the junior forward, stating Jones’ injury is similar to the one that kept former Alabama forward Donta Hall out roughly two weeks last season.

"We're hoping around three weeks,” Oats said. “I guess it's all going to depend on how quickly — he had the surgery this morning — how quickly he heals from that. I think Donta was out two, two and a half (weeks) last (year). Herb handles the ball a lot more, so he probably needs more mobility than Donta had last year."

Jones was certainly missed during Saturday night’s loss as Alabama allowed Arkansas to shoot 51.9 percent from the floor in the second half. At the very least, the lanky, 6-foot-7, 205-pound forward would have limited the damage caused by Razorbacks guards Mason Jones and Jimmy Whitt Jr. who combined for 56 points on the night.

“It’s huge,” Oats said, “because he’s kind of like that lock-down corner you put on one guy and he just takes him out of the game… You can either put Herb on a guy and kind of just shut them down, or you can put him on a bad player and he cleans up everyone else’s mistakes.”

Added freshman guard Jaden Shackelford: “Herb, he’s going to help you no matter what. If you’re in trouble in a matchup, he’s going to be in the gap trying to help you out. He’s going to do whatever it takes to get that stop and that possession.”

Jones averaged 9.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists while shooting 47.8 percent from the floor over 19 games. However, his true value to the team comes in his hustle on the defensive end as he leads the team with 418 blue-collar points — the statistic Alabama uses to chart effort plays. Jones is the Crimson Tide’s leader in dunks (13), drawn charges (18) and floor dives (23).

“With Herb, he’s an all-around,” said redshirt freshman forward Javian Davis, who replaced Jones in the starting lineup Saturday. “He’s everywhere, rebounding, steals, deflections all of that, charges. He’s just everywhere. He’s always back there. But for us, we just got to be better talking in individual defense and stuff like that. We’ve just got to be better from here.”

Due to his surgery, Jones was unable to attend Saturday night’s game. While Oats would have liked to have him on the court against the Razorbacks, the head coach said he would have settled for just having his junior leader on the bench.

“You miss Herb as a player on the floor, but you also miss some of his leadership, just getting guys to play hard,” Oats said. “When a guy plays as hard as Herb plays and does all the blue-collar stuff that Herb does; when he talks, you’re going to listen. If he’s going to tell our guys we’ve got to guard, we’re going to guard."

So where does Alabama go from here?

For starters, it likely won’t be as difficult as it was Saturday night. Along with Jones, Alabama was also missing graduate transfer guard James “Beetle” Bolden and freshman forward Raymond Hawkins to illness. The three total absences left the Crimson Tide with seven active scholarship players against Arkansas. While Oats wasn’t in the mood for making excuses following the loss, the extended minutes to players likely contributed to Alabama’s late collapse.

Even with a deeper rotation, Alabama might be forced to alter its game plan. The Crimson Tide doesn’t have a like-for-like replacement for Jones on its bench. Jaylon Forbes, 6-foot-4, 186-pound frame is the most similar, but the freshman guard doesn’t have the same athleticism as Jones as evidenced by his struggles corraling Arkansas’ guards. Bolden’s return will help, but Alabama will still need to balance the senior’s minutes as he has dealt with hand and wrist injuries throughout most of the season.

Jones’ absence also puts more pressure on starting point guard Kira Lewis Jr. to continue playing deep into games. The sophomore played all 40 minutes of Alabama’s loss to Arkansas and is averaging 37.33 minutes per game.

Alabama will likely start games a bit bigger as it did Saturday, going with Davis (6-foot-9, 242) at center while moving Alex Reese (6-foot-9, 245) to the 4 spot. Both of those players will need to be better about staying out of foul trouble. Reese fouled out with 21 seconds remaining against Arkansas, while Davis has had his struggles avoiding fouls in his first season with the Crimson Tide. Alabama also has junior Galin Smith, who has made six starts this season. However, no member of that trio is a quick as Jones which could cause the Crimson Tide to suffer on defense while also possibly taking a toll on an Alabama attack that ranks No. 3 in the nation averaging 75.7 possessions per game.

The road doesn’t get much easier for Alabama from here either. The Crimson Tide hosts Tennessee on Tuesday before back-to-back road games against Georgia and No. 17 Auburn. After that, Alabama will host a No. 22 LSU team that recently dismantled the Crimson Tide, 90-76, in Baton Rouge, La.

“We’ve got to gel, we’ve got to talk, we’ve got to do the little things that help our team do better on defense,” Shackelford said. “Without (Jones), it was a loss. But we’ve still got to find a way.”

Contact Andrew Bone for all of your real estate needs; buyers, sellers, investors, developers. Property management; BoneHomeTours.com Call 205-531-5577 or click here