Nate Oats Commends Clifford Omoruyi for Returning to Texas A&M Game After Injury

After appearing to roll his ankle while going up for a rebound, the Alabama center was unable to put any pressure on his leg and went to the locker room early in the second half.

Jan 11, 2025; College Station, Texas, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide center Clifford Omoruyi (11) sits on the court after sustaining an injury against the Texas A&M Aggies during the first half at Reed Arena. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images | Erik Williams-Imagn Images

No. 5 Alabama men's basketball narrowly defeated No. 10 Texas A&M 94-88 on the road on Saturday evening to remain undefeated in conference play. As the score suggests, this was a hard-fought victory from start to finish, and it had physicality all throughout.

This was apparent less than a minute into the second half, as at that time Alabama center Clifford Omoruyi was going up for a rebound but appeared to roll his ankle on the way down. He stayed down on the floor for a short time until Alabama head coach Nate Oats and a team trainer helped him up.

He was unable to put any pressure on his leg after wrapping his arm around the trainer's shoulder, as he hobbled to the locker room. Prior to the injury, Omoruyi had four points, six rebounds and a block in nine minutes of time on the floor.

But fortunately, Omoruyi returned to the game less than 10 minutes after the incident. Omoruyi didn't seem showed tremendous effort down low on both sides of the floor in the second half despite the audible minutes restriction.

“I’ll say a lot about Cliff, man,” Oats said during the postgame press conference. “A lot of guys would have just sat that one out after they rolled their ankle like he did, but he manned up, wanted to play and wanted to be there for his teammates. He ends up with 10 rebounds in 16-plus minutes, and you can’t say enough about it because we ended up getting 54 and he got about 20 percent of our rebounds. So good game for him."

The offseason transfer from Rutgers finished the game with seven points, 10 rebounds (two offensive) and a block in his 16 minutes of action. He anchored the challenge of facing the best team on the offensive glass in the nation and helped Alabama win that battle 24-23. The Crimson Tide also tallied 30 defensive rebounds to the Aggies 23.

Omoruyi and Alabama move to 14-2 (3-0 SEC) as it returns home to face No. 23 Ole Miss on Jan. 14.