Alabama Expects John Petty Jr. to be More in the Mix at SEC Tournament

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — There's a little bit of good news for the University of Alabama men's basketball team heading into the SEC Tournament, but how good no one quite knows yet.

Junior wing John Petty Jr. is expected to be a bigger factor and get more playing time against Tennessee on Thursday (noon CT, SEC Network), and any opponent thereafter should Alabama win.

However, there's no way of knowing how well his injured elbow will hold up, not just against the Volunteers but with possible games on subsequent days.

"Petty being back was great," Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said Tuesday. "He just wasn't where we were hoping, close to 100 percent. He's looked much better in practice today. He's hitting threes.

"Hopefully he's looking a better Thursday than he did Saturday."

Petty suffered a ligament sprain at Mississippi State on Feb. 25 and missed the next two games.

He got back on the floor at Missouri last Saturday, but missed all five of his shots, four from three-point range. Petty sank one of his two free throws and grabbed five rebounds at the cost of four turnovers in 34 minutes.

Junior Herb Jones also played limited, with a light cast to protect his healing wrist from a fracture. He had three points, all free throws, over 23 minutes.

Overall, Alabama shot 26.9 percent from the floor and was 4-for-25 (12.5 percent) from three-point range against the Tigers as the Crimson Tide had its worst offensive showing of the season with the 69-50 loss.

"Guys have been getting in the gym and shooting," sophomore guard Kira Lewis Jr. said. "I'm pretty sure we're not going to have bad shooting like we did last Saturday."

When Petty is hitting, Alabama is a different team. Named second-team All-SEC, he leads the league in three-point shooting percentage (.440) and ranks second in threes made per game (2.9). He's ninth and 28th in the nation, respectively.

Overall, Petty is averaging 14.5 points and 6.6. rebounds per game.

Alabama, meanwhile, has lost four of its last six games. It was actually ahead 37-34 in the second half at Missouri before collapsing.

"Let's get back to playing as good as basketball as we can get," Oats said.