One of the reasons that Nate Oats fought so hard for Charles Bediako’s eligibility is that his team doesn’t have much front-court depth. Without Bediako, the Tide have just three players 6-foot-10 or taller in the regular rotation, and only one of them, Aiden Sherrell, averages more than 20 minutes per game.
Yet, because of Sherrell’s development through his sophomore season, Alabama is 6-0 since Bediako was stripped of his temporary restraining order to play. Over that stretch, Sherrell is averaging 13.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game, and despite going 1-6 from the floor, Oats called him the “MVP” of Saturday’s 71-69 win over Tennessee.
Without Sherrell’s growth, Alabama would have faded away in the SEC title race, but heading into the final week of the regular season, the Tide are the only team with a chance to steal a share of the title away from Florida, though trailing by two games, that’s incredibly unlikely.
Alabama closes out the regular season with Auburn on Saturday, but before that, the Tide takes one last regular-season road trip, visiting Georgia on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs have faded down the stretch and provide a perfect matchup for Bama’s unheralded star to steal the show in Athens.
Aiden Sherrell is poised to have a huge game at Georgia on Tuesday night
While 58 percent of his field goal attempts come at the rim, Sherrell is more than a garbage man on the offensive end. As any Nate Oats big man should, he attempts 1.5 above-the-break threes per game and hits them at a respectable 30.9 percent rate (according to CBBanalytics.com). He’s even better knocking down corner threes, hitting at over 36 percent.
However, Alabama doesn’t have a player better at doing the dirty work than its 6-foot-10 sophomore center. 13.4 percent of his field goal attempts come on putbacks, and he scores them at a 73.6 percent clip. That’s meaningful against Georgia because lately, the Bulldogs have struggled to rebound about as much as any team in the country.
For the season, the Dawgs have allowed a 35.7 percent offensive rebound rate, and over the last five games, that’s gone up to 37.2 percent, a fifth-percentile rate in the country. With that atrocious defensive rebounding percentage, 13 percent of opponents’ points are coming on 2nd-chance opportunities over the last five games and 16.9 percent of their points for the season.
Sherrell should feast on the interior against Georgia’s lackluster bigs and could surpass his season-high of 26 points, which came in Alabama’s double-overtime win against Arkansas in mid-February. If he dominates, the Tide’s win streak should run to seven before the final game of the regular season on Saturday.