Should there be concerns about Jahvon Quinerly? Not Yet
When Alabama guard Jahvon Quinerly returned to the floor against South Alabama on Nov. 15, it was shocking. How did a guy that tore his ACL in mid-March get back so quickly? The word was that Quinerly wouldn’t be back until at least conference play, and yet the new No. 5 got back into game action in the Crimson Tide’s fourth game of the season.
So, when Quinerly, Alabama’s leading returning scorer from 2021-22, got back onto the floor, he should immediately return to his old self, right? Well, it hasn’t been that way so far.
The former five-star and SEC Tournament MVP is playing a decent amount, averaging 19.6 minutes per game. But he is yet to start a contest — much of that due to the emergence of the plethora of guards the Crimson Tide boasts. But even with the injury to Nimari Burnett, head coach Nate Oats decided to go with freshman Jaden Bradley in the starting five over the guy that started 34 games for Alabama over the last two seasons.
The reason is simple — Quinerly hasn’t been himself this season so far. In his nearly 20 minutes of action per contest, Quinerly is averaging just 6.4 points — on 28.1% from the field and 27.6% from deep. He also has 22 turnovers — good enough for second worst on the team. He is behind just Mark Sears, who has three more than him with 25 — in 161 more minutes played. Quinerly’s 0.14 turnovers per minute played is by far the worst of any major contributors on the team.
As turnover-ridden as the Crimson Tide was last year, Oats won’t settle for that again.
But he’s not worried about his point guard yet.
“I thought he’d be a little bit better against the way [Memphis plays] just because they open the floor up so much,” Oats said. “He wasn’t able to practice all summer and fall. He’s got to get some reps in and get his confidence back. We’re gonna keep working with him, helping him — maybe we can get some highlights of him playing really well from a couple of years ago. We need him to play better obviously, especially now that Nimari [Burnett] is out. We need our guards playing better. There’s more minutes for some guards. [...] He’s struggled a little bit. He knows he’s struggling. We gotta get him going.”
Oats said that some of the struggles could be stemming from Quinerly pushing himself too much due to the talent that surrounds him.
“Maybe he’s pressing a little bit,” Oats said. “He and I had a good talk. He knows we’ve got maybe the most talented offensive team around him that he's ever played with. I don't think he feels the pressure like he did last year. He’s just got to get his confidence back. We need him to have one good game here to get him rolling again.”
In Tuesday night’s 91-88 win over Memphis, Quinerly shot just 2-for-9 from the field. But Sears still has full confidence in his teammate.
“Just keep shooting,” Sears said. “We all preach keep shooting. If you’re wide-open, keep shooting. No matter if you miss three in a row, just keep shooting. That’s how much confidence we’ve got in each other. So, we really don’t care if he misses five shots in a row — just keep shooting.”
Quinerly was a member of the Preseason All-SEC first team. If Alabama can get that guy back, it will be even more dangerous than it is right now. And right now it is 9-1 and ranked fourth in the country.
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