Alabama Basketball's Jahvon Quinerly Embracing Role as Sixth Man
His performance in the University of Alabama's 30-point shellacking of LSU on Tuesday night could be the turning point of guard Jahvon Quinerly's season, after missing three of the team's four previous games with a undisclosed medical condition.
Quinerly poured in 22 points against the Bayou Bengals, accounting for six of the Crimson Tide's SEC-record 23 three-pointers.
Previously, in his last two appearances, he went 0-of-6 from beyond-the-arc versus Tennessee and Arkansas combined.
"Definitely," Quinerly told the media on Friday morning. "That felt good going out there and hitting six and going 6-for-7. I have worked on my jumpshot so much since I have transferred from Villanova and I made a lot of shots over the summer.
"I was just shooting all the time. I just worked on my shot so much to keep my confidence high and keep shooting. Shooters are going to shoot at the end of the day."
Before his three-game absence that saw him miss games against Florida, Auburn, and Kentucky, he tallied 24 points in the league-opener versus Ole Miss and 12 points and five assists on the road versus the Volunteers.
Both stout performances from the former Villanova player came off the bench after he started the first six games of the year.
But one could tell last Saturday afternoon in Coleman Coliseum in the Crimson Tide's 90-59 win over Arkansas that Quinerly wasn't close to full strength after missing multiple practices and games.
He scored seven points, three of which came from the charity stripe, on 2-of-8 shooting in 21 minutes of action.
"I do feel like I am getting back to playing at a high level again," Quinerly said. "After the Tennessee game, I was feeling real comfortable and things were coming a lot easier to me. Then, I got hit with the medical condition and had to sit out three games. I am just trying to get my legs back under me. I am pretty close to 100 percent..."
Again coming off the bench, an 8-of-11 shooting night against LSU was just what the doctor ordered for Quinerly whose efforts have helped propel Alabama to first place in the Southeastern Conference.
Quinerly is second on the team in scoring with 13.3 points each time out, fourth in minutes at 25.2, and the team-leader in assists with 3.3 to go along with shooting 48 percent from the field.
Alabama coach Nate Oats has made it clear this season that it's not about who the five starters are, but rather the five who close out games and Quinerly could factor in that role more over the second half of SEC play.
"He's come off the bench and shot it real well," Oats said. "He came in and gave good energy. A kid as talented as him could've came in and had poor energy and tried to ruin what we are trying to build but he didn't do that. It really speaks to his character. We're all about winning right now...
"Jahvon's caught some unfortunate circumstances that have caused him to miss a lot of practice and game time. It's great to have a guy like him coming off the bench and playing starter's minutes. When he gets in the game, he's either going against a tired first-unit or second-unit and neither of those are good at staying in front of him off the dribble.
"He is taking advantage of every opportunity he gets and doing great with him. He might be a guy that can close tight games for us because he's certainly proved he can by playing so well recently."
As for himself, Quinerly doesn't mind becoming the Crimson Tide's sixth man, doing what he can do keep the momentum rolling for the 18th-ranked team in the nation.
"I'm fine with my role," Quinerly said. "I never really cared about starting — I'm a 22-year-old redshirt sophomore — but like coming off the bench, I've embraced that role. I know I have to be more locked in to the defensive side of the ball. That's something me and the coaches have been talking about and working on in practice.
"I've embraced my role and I don't have a problem with it at all."
