A redshirt for Alabama basketball senior guard Houston Mallette appears to be back on the table, per head coach Nate Oats.
Mallette was initially slated for a redshirt due to limited available minutes and the fact that he had been limited in the preseason with lingering knee issues. Mallette selflessly agreed to burn his redshirt following the season-ending injury to Latrell Wrightsell. Alabama was worried about its depth heading into a road game at North Carolina with Chris Youngblood still a game away from returning.
In his Alabama debut, Mallette went 2/2 from three for 6 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, and came up with 2 steals in just nine minutes as Alabama rolled to a 94-79 win in Chapel Hill.
Mallette got a season-high 19 minutes in the Tide's win over North Dakota, but since then has logged a total of 11 minutes across four games including a DNP against South Dakota State. Mallette has combined for five total minutes in Alabama's first two SEC games.
On Friday, Oats addressed the media and in part spoke about Mallette, ruling the senior guard out of Saturday's road game at Texas A&M and going on to say discussions are being had about pursuing a medial redshirt for Mallette so he can come back healthy next season.
Nate Oats said Houston Mallette will be out against Texas A&M, he's been having flare-ups with his offseason knee issues.
— Blake Byler (@blakebyler45) January 10, 2025
Oats said these issues have led to discussions about getting him a medical redshirt.
Mallette transferred to Alabama after three seasons at Pepperdine. He anticipated carving out a big role for the Crimson Tide, but his knee issues kept him from practicing much over the summer and Alabama added a lot of talent via the portal, added Labaron Philon late in the recruiting cycle, and unexpectedly got Mark Sears, Latrell Wrightsell, and Grant Nelson back for an extra year.
Mallette gave this Alabama team what it needed by bridging the gap between Wrightsell's injury and Youngblood's return.
Alabama will also be pursuing a medical redshirt for Wrightsell and bringing back two veteran guards for 2025-26 would be a great start to building the roster for next year.