Alabama fell to Tennessee at home on Saturday night, 79-73, to spoil the re-debut of Charles Bediako. The oft-injured Crimson Tide spun the roulette wheel of death and body manglement before the game to determine which player(s) would be unavailable. It unfortunately landed on BOTH Aden Holloway and Amari Allen.
Despite a week between games, the Crimson Tide was down five players against the Vols, none more impactful than Holloway and Allen, who rank 2nd and 3rd on the team in both scoring and assists, respectively. Allen is also the team's leading rebounder.
That proved to be too much to overcome, with far too much of the playmaking burden on Labaron Philon, with Holloway and Allen sidelined. Alabama managed just nine assists in the loss, seven of which came from Philon. Alabama also shot just 6-of-26 from three, and consistently struggled to get off clean looks against Tennessee's perimeter defense.
Nate Oats addressed why Holloway and Allen were unavailable on Saturday night in his postgame press conference.
“They both got injured in the Oklahoma game, and I was really hoping they’d both play," Oats told reporters after the game. "They just didn’t come around as quick as we’d have liked. They’re doing everything they can; Clarke’s doing everything he can. Neither one of them are supposed to be considered long-term, so I would hope, I certainly think that they’ll play (Tuesday). But I thought they were gonna play tonight, to be honest with you.”
Nate Oats is hopeful Aden Holloway and Amari Allen will return against Missouri
It's been a frustrating season on the injury front for Alabama. Only Houston Mallette and Noah Williamson have played all 19 games for the Crimson Tide this season. This was Holloway's third game missed, and Allen's second.
Collectively, Alabama has 65 games missed with injury this year. That's difficult for anyone to overcome. It's especially difficult to beat a quality conference opponent without two of your three best players, even when you get an unexpected boost to your frontcourt from the G-League.
Holloway has had a wrist injury for most of the year that keeps flaring up. Allen has had an issue with his abdomen that he has consistently played through.
Alabama will need both if it is going to snap a two-game home losing streak on Tuesday night against Missouri. At 3-3, Alabama can't afford another loss, particularly at home.
Dropping a second game at home this early in conference play means Alabama's chances of winning the SEC regular season title are pretty thin.
All Oats and company can focus on right now is getting healthy. Because it sure would be nice to finally see what this team could do with everyone available.