Against South Carolina, Alabama Basketball's Guards Showed True Potential

On Saturday night against South Carolina, Alabama basketball seemed to finally be firing on all cylinders in the Crimson Tide's 90-71 victory inside Coleman Coliseum.

For the first time in quite a while this season, Alabama's four guards all had solid nights — a simultaneous occurrence that, in all fairness, hasn't happened on too many occasions. Despite all of the talent that head coach Nate Oats has brought to the position over his past three seasons as the Crimson Tide's head coach, the 2021-22 season has been a rough go in terms of getting all of the team's guards to shine together.

"We really haven’t had all four of those guards — Jahvon Quinerly, JD Davison, Keon Ellis and Jaden Shackelford — play great in one game," Oats said after Alabama's win over South Carolina. "This may have been the first time. [...] They all played well.

"So if we can get all four of them playing this well and then guarding, playing this well on both ends of the floor for a full 40, we’ll be a pretty dangerous team to deal with.”

In the game against South Carolina, all four of Alabama's primary guards shot double-digit points, led by Shackelford with his 21. Quinerly was right behind him with 20 points, shooting 4-of-5 from 3-point territory and registering five assists on the night. Ellis scored 17 points, passed to his teammates for four assists, registered seven rebounds and recorded two steals. Davison, coming off of a double-double at Vanderbilt, scored 10 points, rebounded the basketball six times and registered three assists.

All season it has seemed that no more than one, maybe two guards could have solid performances simultaneously during a single game. On Senior Night against the Gamecocks, though, it was a different story. With all four primary guards firing on all cylinders, the potential threat that the Crimson Tide can be was on full display for arguably the first time this year.

Alabama has shown glimpses here and there over the course of the year, primarily in its three games against 2021 Final Four opponents. However, in two of those three games, only three of its top guards recorded stat lines that Oats would deem acceptable. Against Gonzaga back on Dec. 4, Shackelford scored 28 points, Davison 20 and Quinerly 17. Ellis, meanwhile, only had 4 points on the night.

Against Houston on Dec. 11, it was essentially the same story. Shackelford scored 18, Quinerly 17 and Davison 10 while Ellis totaled just 4 points. Baylor was the sole outlier, with Quinerly leading the way with 20 points, Shackelford scoring 19, Davison 14 and Ellis 11.

To have all four of the Crimson Tide's signature guards scoring double-digit points once again as well as clicking together on defense this close to March, it bodes well for the team heading into both the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

Of all of Alabama's guards, Davison is the one that has shown most improvement over the latter portion of the season. While he had a rocky start to begin his college career, Davison has begun to show his true potential over Alabama's last several games, blossoming into one of the top freshmen of the conference.

His success was to be expected after such a standout high school playing career, but it understandably took time to reveal itself. Obviously enough, it's much easier to dominate at the high school level than it is to make oneself known on the college stage, particularly in the SEC.

Oats said that he's pleased with what Davison has shown over the final month of the regular season.

“He’s been rebounding the ball much better lately," Oats said. "He’s been playing a lot harder. He has developed as a point guard since he’s got here. I think he’s always been able to pass pretty well. But just the setup, how to set up a pick-and-roll, how to run a team — he’s a high-IQ kid. He’s not very talkative, so you may not get that out of him when you talk to him, but when you coach him, he’s directing. Sometimes he directs by pointing because he doesn’t like to talk much, but we’ve kind of been getting on him. ‘You’ve gotta open your mouth as a point guard, you’ve gotta talk a little more.’ He’s been getting better with that, too.

“He’s really worked hard on his shooting. He hit the three to win the state championship his junior year, but that wasn’t really his forte. He spent a lot of time in the gym shooting since he’s got here. That kind of opens his game up because then they have to honor his shot and he can get downhill to the rim. I’ve been pleased with his play."

Alabama has just two games left in the regular season before it heads to Tampa for the 2022 SEC Tournament. Should the Crimson Tide prevail on Tuesday night against Texas A&M and on Saturday morning at LSU, Alabama will have locked up the 5-seed of the tournament and will be in good position to secure a solid seed in March Madness as well.

On Senior Night, Oats reflected on the impact of the seniors — including Quinerly and Ellis — and if they can continue to contribute like they have over the season's final stretch, how much impact they can continue to have.

"If we continue to win here, close out and get a 5-seed — I think the last time they’ve gone to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments with 5-seed or higher was 30 years ago and it’d be only the third time in school history, I think," Oats said. "They’ve taken this program to new heights from where it was when they got here. I couldn’t be more happy for them, more thankful for their help getting it here."

Gallery: Alabama Basketball vs South Carolina

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