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Nate Oats Expects Brandon Miller to be 'Ready to Go' on Saturday
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama basketball forward Brandon Miller is still recovering from a groin injury that he sustained during the Crimson Tide's SEC title game victory over Texas A&M back on March 12.
While the injury was reported on soon after the game, it wasn't officially announced until after 1-seed Alabama's win over 16-seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. While Miller was able to play 19 minutes, he scored no points and recorded just five rebounds over the course of the game.
As the team prepares for its Saturday matchup vs 8-seed Maryland in the Second Round of March Madness, Oats said during his press conference that Miller is continuing to recover from the injury.
"Clarke [Holter], our trainer, I think is the best trainer in the business," Oats said. "Me and him talked about it today. He's getting treatment already this morning. He got it last night. He's going to get a lot more this afternoon."
Oats then added that Miller was held out of live action in practice and instead doing some shooting drills and other light forms of practice.
"We're holding him out of anything live in practice today," Oats said. "Not that we're doing a whole lot of live stuff with the game yesterday and one tomorrow. He'll shoot and do some non-live stuff."
Miller has been a key piece to the Crimson Tide's success this season, including in the team's run in the SEC Tournament. Due to his dynamic play on the court of Bridgestone Arena, Miller was named to the SEC All-Tournament Team as well as the tournament's MVP.
So far this season, Miller is averaging 19.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. While Alabama was still able to win despite no points from their star player — a point that Oats said he was pleased to see — his return to full health will be crucial to the team moving forward.
That being said, Oats is confident that Miller will be back to full health soon.
"I think he's going to be all right," Oats said. "He seemed like he was moving all right. It obviously bothered him. He didn't shoot it particularly well, but he seemed like he was moving decent. So he's just got to get his confidence back that he could play with it.
"Hopefully all the non-live stuff he does today in practice, he can get to where he's moving well, shooting it well, and then be ready to go. It obviously wasn't one of his better games to open, but I think knowing Brandon and how tough he is, physically, mentally, I think he'll be ready to go tomorrow."
See Also:
Mark Sears is Returning to Form at the Perfect Time for No. 1 Alabama
Alabama's Bench Brigade Stays Ready
BamaCentral Courtside: No. 1 Alabama 96, No. 16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 75
