Freshman Noah Clowney ruled out by Alabama head coach Nate Oats ahead of Jackson State

Alabama will close the main portion of the nonconference schedule on Tuesday, with Jackson State coming to Coleman Coliseum. It’s another opportunity for some of the Crimson Tide’s young stars to put up another great performance but forward Noah Clowney will not be one of them.

According to head coach Nate Oats, Clowney is feeling under the weather and will not play against Jackson State. He has been a top player early in the year for Alabama, alongside freshman Brandon Miller. Even being a significant favorite in the game, Clowney serves as a big loss.

Clowney has appeared in all 11 games up to this point, averaging 9.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. He has already been named SEC Freshman of the Week twice as well, having impressive performances in the month of December.

In a press conference prior to the game, Oats discussed how an illness was rolling through the Alabama program. Clowney is the first to miss a game because of it. Thankfully, nobody else is projected to miss Tuesday’s game.

Veteran forward Noah Gurley will step in place of Clowney in the starting lineup. He is averaging just under six points per game and has been a solid role player for Alabama.

Coming out of high school, Clowney was ranked a four-star prospect by the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting services. He was the No. 79 overall prospect and No. 14 power forward in the 2022 class.

To this point, he’s been playing better than his fringe top-80 ranking. Alabama will be hoping to get him back healthy and ready to go for SEC play. Mississippi State is first up on the schedule just after the Christmas Break ends, who just suffered their first loss of the season.