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Alabama leaning toward medical redshirting guard Houston Mallette

1918632_10206777287683070_1367905321192383146_nby:Charlie Potter•about 12 hours•

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Alabama guard Houston Mallette
Alabama guard Houston Mallette (Courtesy of UA Athletics)

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama guard Houston Mallette hasn’t played in more than two weeks, dealing with lingering knee issues. Back on January 10, head coach Nate Oats said seeking a medical redshirt for Mallette was possible. That is still the case for the transfer.

“Not 100 percent, but we’re leaning towards keeping him on the redshirt,” Oats said on Friday.

Mallette has played in six games this year. He was initially going to redshirt, but after Latrell Wrightsell’s injury, he leaped into action. The transfer portal addition averaged 8.0 minutes per game, but he only played a combined five minutes during his last two outings.

Mallette has not played since the South Carolina game, and now Alabama is likely to seek a medical redshirt for the Pepperdine transfer, who would come back for a fifth season.

“I think what’s right by him, if his knees don’t get to 100 percent here really quick – and we’re gonna be at the halfway point of conference play a week from tomorrow, the halfway point’s done – so for him only to play half the conference games, I don’t know if that’s fair to him, to be honest with you,” Oats said.

It isn’t official yet, as the Crimson Tide will have to submit a request to the NCAA, but Oats will speak to Mallette soon to decide what the senior guard will do for the rest of the year.

“It’s gonna be a conversation we have with him when it gets here, probably halfway through, like, ‘How are your knees feeling? because if you bring him back, it’s gotta be your knees are going to 100 percent be healthy and you can full-go as many minutes as you deserve to play the rest of the year in all the games,” Oats said. 

“If you can’t do that with his knees, I just don’t think it’d be the right decision because we can continue to get him on the rehab program because he’s come a long ways. He couldn’t even practice all summer. He got here and they were so bad, he literally sat out the entire summer. He was here all summer, and then he was gradually getting built-in in the fall, and then you come back and there’s a little setback. 

“He’s just gotta get them right. So my guess would be we’re leaning more towards keeping him on the redshirt.”

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