The Alabama Player Who 'Deserves to Have a Great Game' Against Florida

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — During nonconference play, Alabama basketball head coach Nate Oats called out forward Taylor Bol Bowen on multiple occasions for not showing enough effort.

Bol Bowen responded to Oats' criticism in tremendous fashion a couple of times, including the win over St. John's back in November, when he logged what is still a season-high 17 points with nine rebounds. But over the last month or so, the denouncing of Bol Bowen has disappeared.

The Florida State offseason transfer addition has grabbed at least seven rebounds in five of his last eight games, including two 10-rebound performances. For reference, he hauled in 7-plus boards just twice in his first nine contests of the season.

"I'll tell you one guy that has been rebounding really well is Taylor, and Taylor's been an absolute monster with his effort," Oats said during Friday's press conference. "Now he's a guy that just needs to continue to play as hard as he can and do what he's been doing for about a month now.

"Then his offensive game will come. And I'm really hoping that comes quick, because he deserves to have a great game with the mindset that he's had here recently."

No. 23 Alabama will play its 21st game of the regular season, and the eighth of SEC play, on Sunday, on the road against No. 19 Florida. While the head coach Todd Golden and the Gators finished last season as national champions, they are currently at the top of the mountain in terms of rebounds. UF is first in the country in total rebounds per game (46.1), first in offensive rebounds per game (16.7) and eighth in defensive rebounds per game (29.4).

While Florida has four players who average at least six rebounds per game, Alabama's lone player accomplishing this feat is Amari Allen. He's missed the last two games due to an injury, and Oats shared on Friday that the freshman forward is "chomping at the bit" to face the Gators. He explained how Allen "makes a big difference" on the boards, but he'll be a game-time decision for Sunday.

Bol Bowen's recent improvements will need to be on full display against the Gators if the Crimson Tide wants to have a chance in this one. Even if Allen plays, he won't be 100 percent, meaning Bol Bowen will have to step up.

"I think he's just got to keep playing as hard as he's playing," Oats said. "He's an athlete that can get up in the air and go get [rebounds] above the rim. He's just got to keep going to the glass. We had to get his mindset to flip, and it took a while, but it has. I honestly couldn't be more proud of a guy this year than him, because we wanted his efforts, toughness, physicality and his rebounding (when he transferred in). He's just improved drastically in all those areas.

"It's really a mindset change. And to me, it proves that you recruit guys and you hope that you can coach them to play harder, but he's an example, and there's plenty of them. What are we in this business for if you can't have improvements? I mean, it's life. Everybody needs to get better in certain areas of life, he needed to get better in those areas of basketball and he proves it. You should give a guy a chance to make a conscious decision, to make improvements, he has and he's been great.

"I love coaching Taylor now. He's always been a great kid, I just needed to get more effort out of him than he's given. I mean, he's a max effort kind of guy that embodies what this program has been about since we've been here. I just hope he continues to stay healthy, and his offensive game follows how hard he's been playing on defense. He's just got to keep playing hard, going to the glass, making all the tough plays. Making that of who he is, he's done a good job here this last month."

Can Taylor Bol Bowen step up once again?

The Alabama Player Who 'Deserves to Have a Great Game' Against Florida

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