Nate Oats explains why the decision to go to bench early, praises Dominick Welch

Alabama wing Dominick Welch has had a rough go of it during is first and final year with the Crimson Tide. He previously spent four years at Saint Bonaventure, where he and four other guys started alongside one another for consecutive seasons. Ultimately, their last year together, 2021-22, didn’t go as planned, leading to all four transferring away. Two of them, Jaren Holmes and Osun Osunniyi, ended up at Iowa State and have helped turned the Cyclones into a top-15 club. Meanwhile, Kyle Lofton landed at Florida and Welch at Alabama.

So far, Welch has struggled with injuries and can’t find his way onto the floor consistently…until the last seven days. Welch has seen double-figure minute totals in Alabama’s last two outings against Missouri and Mississippi State. He even made a mark on the scoreboard vs. the Bulldogs the other night, splashing two threes to give him six points.

After the game, head coach Nate Oats was thrilled to see Welch come through when his number was called.

“It was great to see some shots drop for Dom,” shared Oats in the postgame. “That one at the end of the half was big to cut it from 10 to seven. We know he’s a shooter. He’s been practicing really hard and trying to get him some minutes.”

Welch’s little stretch of playing time came at the expense of Brandon Miller, the Tide’s superstar freshman wing. Miller picked up an early foul, so Oats opted to go with Welch for a stint to avoid having Miller pick up foul No. 2 in a hurry.

“Brandon, I didn’t really take him out for doing anything wrong particularly. There was 16:40, if I remember right, to go. We were coming down on defense. He had just picked up a foul. I got him right back in at the media (timeout). I just figured we could save him a possession or two on defense and try not to get him in foul trouble. I know we were gonna need him. It might have been good because he ended up with three fouls. He picked up a couple unnecessary ones there in the second half. He tends to do that occasionally.”

Of course, dumb fouls come with being a freshman, which Miller still is despite his rise. And really, Dominick Welch would be playing a lot more if he was healthy and had Miller not emerged so strongly. Oats loves wings like Welch. Versatile defenders who can simply knock down shots. That’s what Welch was born to do at the college level. It’s just been tough to find him very many minutes since he was injured until conference play while Miller has been a revelation at the same spot Welch was brought on to play.

Just tough luck for the kid. But hey, looks like he’s finally getting back to full strength and finding a way to help the team. Would be another nice spoke in the wheel if Alabama can get consistent shooting from him.