John Petty Jr. Shows Leadership During Adversity for Alabama Basketball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After a slow start to the season, Alabama basketball guard John Petty Jr. might just be the Crimson Tide’s comeback player of the year.
With several underwhelming starts under his belt to begin the year, Alabama coach Nate Oats chose to bench Petty back on Dec. 22 against East Tennessee State. The move obviously lit a spark under Petty, who rejoined the team soon afterwards and has been on a tear ever sense.
On Saturday night at Rupp Arena against Kentucky, Petty had another solid performance. But this time, it was how Petty responded to team adversity that garnered the most attention.
Right around the 11-minute mark of Tuesday night’s game at Kentucky, senior wing Herb Jones was forced to leave with a wrist injury. Often regarded as one of, if not the best player on the Crimson Tide’s roster, Jones’ absence concerned Alabama fans.
However, Petty responded in kind.
After scoring two points through the first 11 minutes of the game, Petty stepped up after Jones’ injury. Less than a minute after Jones left the game, Petty responded with a three-pointer, then followed up with two points that sparked a 13-2 run for the Crimson Tide.
Another three by Petty in the final two minutes of the first half would extend the Alabama lead to 12 at the half which ultimately proved insurmountable to the Wildcats.
After the game, Petty said that his role was unchanged after Jones left the game and that it was a collective effort.
“Just the same role that I’ve been doing,” Petty said. “Even though Herb went out, we still got leadership on our team — guys that have been through the system that have been through these type of games, they know what to do. So it was just a collective effort. Everybody holding each other accountable and everybody responding to adversity so I feel like all our guys di a great job with staying focused, staying locked into the game plan to get the W.”
Petty finished the game with 23 points, five rebounds and two assists. His spark soon after Jones’ departure was what gave Alabama some wiggle room, allowing them to maintain its lead and hold off Kentucky for the Crimson Tide’s first win at Kentucky since 2006.
Alabama basketball has struggled in recent years with finding solid leaders on the team. While every team has players that emerge in leadership roles, the Crimson Tide’s leaders seemed to be lacking effort and discipline. However, under Oats at Alabama, the leadership of the team has improved dramatically, with players stepping up and helping to guide the younger players.
The results of this improved leadership speak for themselves. Since that game that saw Petty absent from Coleman Coliseum back on Dec. 22, the Crimson Tide is on a 6-0 run, including 5-0 in SEC play. Alabama is the only undefeated team in the conference who has played more than one SEC game.
For a team that started the season 4-3 with losses to Stanford, Clemson and Western Kentucky, it is pretty easy to see how the growth in leadership has helped the team.
“I think it’s just the guys [are] more focused, more locked in and the leadership,” Petty said. “Our leadership has been tremendous. Like coach said, all our guys have been holding each other accountable. Like, preparation before games have been good, practices have been good so it’s just a focus that the guys come into the game with and intensity and being locked in. I think that’s what’s holding us together.”
Leadership on the court in games starts in the locker room and in practice. Petty referring to preparation and holding each other accountable both in games and on the practice court shows that not only is his mind in the right place, but also the mindset of the entire team.
Always willing to preach on effort, Oats complimented Petty on his play-making abilities outside of scoring as well as the awareness of this Crimson Tide squad.
“He’s making winning plays,” Oats said on Saturday afternoon following Alabama’s first win at Auburn since the 2014-2015 season. “When he’s making plays outside of making threes to win the game, that’s when you know they’re all about winning. They realize we got something special going, they realize how tight this group is so when you get in there it’s a fun locker room to be in after the game.”