The Alabama Player Who 'Blew Everybody Out of the Water' in Pre-UTSA Practice

The Crimson Tide's practice ran nearly an hour late, but Alabama head coach Nate Oats was extremely impressed with Taylor Bol Bowen.

Alabama forward Taylor Bol Bowen celebrates an offensive play in the second half against Clemson on Dec. 3, 2025. | Sarah Munzenmaier/Alabama Crimson Tide on SI

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama men's basketball head coach Nate Oats was scheduled for a press conference on Friday at 11:45 a.m. CT.

Nearly one hour later, at 12:35 p.m., Oats walked through the doors of the media room. He apologized for being late, as Alabama was watching film of Wednesday night's Clemson win. Oats said, "It was a good win against Clemson, but it was not what we were looking for."

Alabama's next game is on Sunday at home against UTSA, and "it was a chance to have a good practice, but we went a little long." One big reason for Oats' disappointment from the Clemson win was due to the lack of defense in the second half.

When asked during the press conference if there's a player that can step up in these areas against a mid-major team on Sunday, Oats' answer couldn't have been more clear.

"Taylor Bol Bowen," Oats said. "And based on today's practice, you'll see a different version of him because he looked great. We chart the blue-collar points and blew everybody out of the water. He was all over the place. He had like eight offensive rebounds. He looked like a completely different player, and if that's the version we're going to get moving forward, this team will be significantly better."

Bol Bowen had a very respectable 11-point, 5-rebound, 3-assist and 2-block stat line against the Tigers, but Oats wasn't pleased with the defensive effort. That said, this isn't the first time that the Alabama head coach has called the Florida State transfer forward this season.

In the season opener against North Dakota, the Florida State transfer scored eight points, while adding an assist and a block, but Oats was disappointed with the fact that the junior could've had much more than three rebounds.

"Taylor had zero [offensive rebounds]," Oats said after the North Dakota game. "He had zero in the exhibition. He doesn’t get offensive rebounds ever."

Bol Bowen played 18 minutes against North Dakota. Oats took him out multiple times following mistakes and missed rebounding opportunities. He had the chance to redeem himself against St. John's on Nov. 8, and he did that...and then some.

Bol Bowen finished with 17 points on 6 of 7 from the field, while collecting nine total rebounds (four offensive), two blocks, two steals and an assist. Alabama needed to start hot on both ends in the "World's Most Famous Arena," and his aggression showed early with all four offensive rebounds coming in the first half.

"[He was] huge. He was 100 percent the X-factor in this game," Oats said during the St. John's postgame press conference. "The plays he made, the blocks he made, even the ones that he didn't block, he challenged shots. I mean, rebounds, he had seven at the half. If Taylor doesn't bring it like he brought it, we have no chance of winning this game, especially with the rest of the guys being in foul trouble in the frontcourt."

Bol Bowen is certainly a player to watch against UTSA, but the same will be said for the Crimson Tide as a whole. While Bol Bowen had a great practice on Friday, Oats has similar feelings for the rest of the team's efforts.

"If you come in and play an easy buy game, on that game, today's practice won't like it did today, because it looked great," Oats said. "Our team looked like it's trying to compete for an SEC Championship in practice today."

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