Grant Nelson lives up to the hype in his Alabama basketball debut
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Grant Nelson was a key offseason addition for Nate Oats and Alabama basketball, and the North Dakota State transfer showed why in Monday’s season opener.
In the Crimson Tide’s 105-73 win over Morehead State, Nelson finished with a game-high 24 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range, and pulled down seven rebounds in his Alabama debut. Nelson ended the convincing win with a +/- of 28 and was the winner of the Tide’s Hard Hat Award for the most blue-collar points.
“Twenty-four and seven is pretty good,” said Oats after the game. “I think some games he may have a few more assists and get the ball moving, depending on how teams guard him. When we’re able to get him downhill, he finished at the rim pretty strong.
“He went 2-of-4 from three. That was a big question mark with him – can he shoot? He’s been in the gym a ton, working with Coach (Ryan) Pannone on his shooting. I think he’s shooting it really well. He’s shooting about 40 percent in all our live-action since he showed up this summer.
“So for him to go 2-of-4 was big just to kind of get his confidence up. If he can keep shooting him like that, teams are going to have to guard him, he can get the ball downhill and finish at the rim like he did.”
Is this what Oats envisioned when he landed Nelson from the NCAA transfer portal?
“I envision him playing similarly to what he played tonight,” Oats said. “Whether he gets 24 points every night or not, teams are going to guard him differently, he may end up with more like 12 or 15 but end up with six or seven assists because I think he can really pass the ball, too.”
Nelson made both of his triples in the first half, but he was still effective in the final 20 minutes, maybe even more so. He recorded all seven of his rebounds during the second half and had a stretch where he scored nine of the Tide’s 14 points in a 14-4 run that extended the UA lead to 30 points, 95-65, and forced Eagles coach Preston Spradlin to call a timeout.
“Just couldn’t play him,” Spradlin said. “Shot the ball better tonight than what we anticipated coming in from what the numbers said. … That’s expected being on a team that really shares the ball and shoots a lot of threes. He’s a big-time driver.
“He’s a hard matchup because he does have size. He’s extremely athletic. He reads closeouts well, knows which ones he should shoot, which ones he should he drive. And he’s a big-time finisher above the rim. He’s a really good player.”
A 6-foot-11, 230-pound senior, Nelson spent the last three years at North Dakota State, where he scored 1,043 career points and 520 rebounds and entered the 2023-24 campaign as the No. 41 returning scorer in all of Division I. Last season, on his way to earning first-team All-Summit honors, Nelson averaged 19.9 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.1 steals per game, which led his now-former Bison team in every statistical category.
Speaking to reporters for the first time since joining the Alabama men’s basketball program, the preseason Naismith Award watch lister shared how he has adjusted to the Tide system.
“There’s no freer basketball than Alabama basketball, I feel,” Nelson said. “It’s been easy. The coaches have done a great job of teaching us terminology, just teaching us the little things and how we’ve got to get the ball up the court and try to maximize each possession, get as many possessions. I feel like it’s been easy.”
Nelson was the No. 6 transfer in the country, according to the On3’s transfer portal rankings, and with so much roster turnover for Alabama after its successful 2022-23 campaign, he walked into a prime opportunity to be a top option on a Power 5 team. With No. 2 pick Brandon Miller in the stands, Nelson showed why he can be the Tide’s next great player.
“I think Grant will be in the NBA next year,” Oats said. “I think he’s shown a skillset that the NBA wants at his size. I think he’s going to definitely be one of the best players in the SEC.
“It’s great that we’ve got him and he’s so versatile. You pair him together with the backcourt with (Mark) Sears, (Aaron) Estrada. We’ve got some other guys, some shooters that we can put around him, too, that will really help. He’s kind of that versatile piece that we did have with Herb (Jones) and Brandon.”
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