Nate Oats Provides Injury Updates for Three Players Before Facing Arizona

The Alabama head coach discusses the status of Aden Holloway, Keitenn Bristow and Taylor Bol Bowen before facing the No. 1 team in the country.

Dec 3, 2025; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama forward Taylor Bol Bowen (7) looks for a way around Clemson guard Dillon Hunter (2) at Coleman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News | Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No. 12 Alabama men's basketball is set to face No. 1 Arizona on Saturday in one of the biggest games of the young season.

Ahead of this must-see matchup in Legacy Arena at BJCC in Birmingham, Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats updated the status of multiple players who have been sidelined with injuries on Friday.

"Keitenn [Bristow] and Taylor [Bol Bowen] both practiced," Oats said. "[They did pretty much everything they could do, and I think Taylor looks great. As long as he doesn't have any setbacks, I anticipate him playing.

“[Aden] Holloway, very limited practice yesterday. We’ll see how he feels this morning, see what he can do today. That’s going to have to probably end up being a game-time, game-day decision to see how his wrist is feeling."

Bristow has only played in three games this season, making his 2025 debut against then-No. 8 Illinois in Chicago on Nov. 19. He's averaging 6.7 points and a little more than seven rebounds per contest. He last played in the UNLV game on Nov. 25 and had a boot on his right foot the next day but has been out of it ever since.

Holloway had a brace on his right wrist the past couple of games, the result of a previous injury Oats said he reaggravated. The junior double-doubled in his last outing, scoring 17 points and dishing out 10 assists in a 105-72 win over Maryland. He tied a career-high mark with 26 points in the UNLV matchup.

Bol Bowen was a late scratch before Alabama played UTSA due to back spasms. One day prior to the game, Oats said that the Florida State transfer "blew everybody out of the water" during practice, and now that Bol Bowen's healthy, he has similar expectations for Arizona.

Freshman center Collins Onyejiaka, who appeared in both of the Crimson Tide's first two games, is out indefinitely with a medical condition. Oats announced that development a day prior to Alabama's Nov. 13 home loss against Purdue; nothing has since officially changed.

This is a return neutral-site game from the 2023-24 season when these two programs played in Phoenix. Arizona won that contest 87-74 on Dec. 20, 2023.

The Crimson Tide is 2-2 against top-10 teams this season, and Saturday's game will be its first this year against the top-ranked program in the latest AP Top 25. Nevertheless, this is far from the first time that Alabama head coach Nate Oats has gone head-to-head with the AP No. 1 team, as he's 3-4 since his arrival in 2019.

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