When Alabama basketball revealed its jersey numbers for the coming season, one stuck out among the rest. It belongs to Houston Mallette.

The Pepperdine transfer will be wearing No. 95 in his first year with the Crimson Tide. The unique number is going to take some getting used to. Alabama has never had a No. 95 because up until an NCAA rule change last year, players weren’t able to wear digits above five.

While Mallette’s No. 95 is sure to look foreign at first, the senior guard believes it will make a lot more sense once fans understand his game.

“I know people were thinking, ‘Why are you wearing 95? Are you a meme? Are you a troll?’ No, there's really meaning behind it,” Mallette told Tide Illustrated. “And I think it's cool, especially since they allowed the numbers to go past 55. I think it's a cool experience. I've never really seen anybody wear 95. The only NBA players, Juan Tuscao-Anderson and DeAndre Bembry have both worn it. It's something that I hold true in my heart.”

Here’s the story behind Alabama basketball’s new No. 95.

Houston Mallette has a saying. He’s relied on it to keep himself grounded following a bad shooting night or a negative team result.

“I would shoot after every game and I would always say ‘Good or bad, back to the lab,'" Mallette said. “So it's like no matter if things went great or if things went horrible, just back to the lab. I'm always just trying to improve myself. I'm always just trying to get better.”

That mentality was on full display on a late December night during Mallette’s junior year of high school. It was approaching 1 a.m., but he wasn’t ready to leave the gym. Earlier that day he played his fourth game in six days, competing in a tournament playing for Pacific Christian High School in California.

After stuffing the stat sheet through the opening three games, Mallette and Pacific Christian ran into powerhouse Mater Dei High School in the championship game and suffered a blowout loss.

Mallette was silent on the car ride back before turning to his father with a request. He wanted to meet with one of his trainers and he couldn’t wait. Wesley Mallette obliged. After an equally somber dinner at home, Houston shook off his fatigue and made his way to the gym for a full training session at 10:30 p.m.

“He went through a full workout after four straight games where he did not come off the floor,” Wesley said. “And at the end, I got to the point, I'm like, ‘Dude, can we please go home?’ And he's like, ‘I’m not done yet, Dad.’ At that point when I saw him work up a full sweat and get through an entire full workout, 2.5+ hours after four straight games. That's when it hit me, this kid's gonna make it. This kid's got that extra gear, that extra it [factor], that passion, that desire that greatness comes from.”

Wesley’s premonition for his son turned out to be correct. Mallette overcame the difficulty of transferring schools after his freshman season, becoming a three-time All-CIF Southern Section first-team selection and scoring 1,325 points at the prep level.

College interest soon followed, and with it came more unexpected change. Mallette originally committed to play at Penn State. But after a coaching change just three weeks before National Signing Day, the three-star guard was forced to pivot and ended up at a Pepperdine program closer to home.

Pepperdine was where the number 95 first started developing its meaning for Mallette. It comes from a philosophy former Waves head coach Lorenzo Romar learned from former Florida head coach Billy Donovan, who had the number plastered all over his basketball facilities while leading the Gators to back-to-back national titles from 2006-07.

​​"The truth is that they're playing the game 95% of the time without the ball in their hand,” Donovan told the program What Drives Winning in 2015. “And I think a lot of times players play their 95% hoping to get it back.”

Donovan's goal was to help his players better impact games in other areas instead of solely looking to get the ball and score. Romar took the philosophy a step further, adopting a set of core values for his team: Passion, Accountability, Toughness, Humility, and Sacrifice, or “PATHS.”

During Pepperdine’s practices, Romar manifested PATHS by charting everything his players did that didn’t involve scoring, similar to how Alabama head coach Nate Oats charts “blue-collar points.” At the end of each week, the player with the highest total was given a Pepperdine No. 95 practice jersey as a reward for maximizing their impact in the 95% of the time they spent without the ball.

Romar’s strategies eventually sunk in with Mallette, but it wasn’t smooth sailing from the jump. The young guard struggled to acclimate to the PATHS mantra as he started his Pepperdine career. The breaking point came during a team retreat just before his freshman season when Mallette ranked second to last on the 95 list following a practice.

“I still have the piece of paper,” Mallette said. “I hung it up in my locker.

“This retreat was the most eye-opening thing. It was like OK, forget everything else. If I can go out there and focus on the things I can control, which is my effort and my intensity and just playing hard, it'll start to add up. So that was pretty much my approach. The way I'm able to shoot the ball from 3, those things I work on every single day. So now when I go out there and play, how can I get on the floor? If I'm doing all these little things coach is going to have no choice but to play me.”

Mallette made it his mission to win the No. 95 practice jersey every week. By the end of his freshman campaign, he won it more times than anyone else on Pepperdine’s roster. He did it again his sophomore year and again last season. In 2023-24, he finished top three on the Waves for rebounds, assists and steals to go along with his 14.7 points per game and 41.5% 3-point shooting clip.

“That's what I see my role as,” Mallette said. “Someone to dive on the floor for loose balls. I've taken 90+ charges in my basketball career. Taking charges, rebounding, crashing. Do all the little things. That’s what I pride myself on and that's how I want to affect [the team] and that’s how I see myself being the most successful I can.”

Mallette allowed the No. 95 practice jersey and its associated values to become his identity. He was unanimously elected team captain in his sophomore and junior years. 95 became a symbol of Mallette’s individual development into the type of player any team needs to win at the highest level.

“He had an unbelievable career at Pepperdine,” Wesley said. “Three years, just under 1,300 points. But the biggest thing for me was the way he impacted that team, his teammates and the community off the court, in the locker room and everything else.”

Mallette’s willingness to do the dirty work and become a leader aligned with what Alabama was looking for as it began to build its now-stacked 2024-25 roster. The guard became a target for the Tide when he entered his name in the transfer portal on March 6 after it was announced that Romar would be dismissed at the end of the season. 13 days later, Mallette committed to Alabama.

One major key in Mallette’s decision was an established relationship with assistant coach Preston Murphy, who recruited him when he was on staff at Creighton. Mallette’s choice was further cemented after a strong conversation with Oats and the rest of the staff.

Of course, approval from Dad didn’t hurt either. Wesley currently serves as the athletic director at UC Riverside and previously served as the associate athletic director for strategic communications at the University of California and the vice president of communications at the Pac-12 Network. He knows a strong program when he sees one and had no doubt his son was in good hands with Oats and his staff.

“The Zoom was fantastic,” Wesley said. “Probably one of the best that I've ever been a part of in two decades plus in this business. Just watching the way that they were surgical in how they laid everything out. Here's your style of play. Here's ours. Here's how you fit in. Here's what we're looking for. Here's what you provide.”

Wesley was further convinced when Oats talked about Alabama’s embrace of Mudita, the practice of finding joy in the success of others.

“That spoke volumes,” Wesley said. “Because it spoke to the heart of who Houston is. He's a selfless leader. He's gonna do the 95% of the things that most people won't do when they don't have the ball in their hands. He's going to focus on being just as good at that as he is in the 5% of the time he has the ball.”

Oats has been adamant about his players having a blue-collar mentality and embracing their roles on the defensive end. Alabama struggled to establish an identity on that end of the floor last campaign, making Mallette even more valuable to what Alabama is trying to accomplish next season.

“They said they wanted vets,” Mallette said. “They wanted older guys. They wanted leaders. But I would say what really stood out to me is this is a place of growth. It’s gonna push you. You don't come to Alabama to be content. You're gonna be pushed every single day.”

In his early days with the Crimson Tide, Mallette is already confident he made the right choice.

“They make the game so simple, but incredibly detailed,” Mallette said. “I'm a detail-oriented person. So when you focus on the details, the details are everything. But they make the game of basketball so simple in terms of approach, in terms of what they want to get on offense, in terms of 3-point shooting, in terms of rebounding, defense. They make it so simple.”

Alabama represents another step up and a new challenge in Mallette’s career: Becoming a leader on a talented roster with the expectation to be one of the best teams in college basketball. It isn’t a task he takes lightly.

Mallette even admits that there were times when he questioned whether he was ready to be a part of a championship-level team as he had yet to win anything in his college career. However, his effort during the 95% of the game when he doesn’t have the ball has never let him down. Neither has his shot-creation and deadeye accuracy from 3 when he does get the ball in his hands.

“I believe I provide something that will help this team win games, win more games and can win a national championship,” Mallette said. “That’s my thing. That’s what every little kid dreams of. In life, you can't always be comfortable, and I don't want to be comfortable. I feel like I thrive in uncomfortable situations. So I'm really trying to push myself and really get better.”

Sporting his new No. 95 jersey, Mallette expects to add a few Hard Hat awards to his resume this season. While the blue-collar guard might not be the biggest name on Alabama’s star-studded roster, his hard-nosed traits and leadership will be crucial for the Tide’s cohesion.

That’s a role he willingly embraces.

“We have so much talent,” Mallette said. “We have an All-American who came back and plenty of guys who will play professional basketball. So the talent is there. So it's how can I push them and how can they push me every day? How can we be the best we can be?”

Mallette plans on answering that by bringing his unusual number and unparalleled work ethic to the court.