Grant Nelson's aggressive play helps lift Alabama to win at Auburn
AUBURN, Ala. – Grant Nelson looked like his old self on Saturday in Neville Arena.
The senior forward led No. 7 Alabama with 23 points and eight rebounds as the Crimson Tide ended the regular season with a 93-91 overtime win over the top-ranked Auburn Tigers.
Nelson hasn’t scored more than 12 points in the last month and dealt with minor, but nagging, injuries. But he saved one of his best performances for Alabama’s regular-season finale.
Nelson went 8-of-15 from the floor and 3-of-6 from 3-point range against the Tigers. It marked the fifth-year senior’s first game with multiple triples since the Kentucky win on Jan. 18.
Where did his strong showing against the Tigers come from?
“Definitely my teammates,” Nelson said. “They’ve been giving me confidence, and we’ve been doing a lot in practice leading up. And I’ve been getting a lot of treatment to try to get my body right. But I mean, the coaches drawing up plays for me to get downhill really helped, and that kind of got me going and some 3s finally fell.”
Nelson making shots from beyond the arc was noteworthy on Saturday afternoon, but he was also aggressive in attacking the rim. That was an area of emphasis against the Tigers.
“I thought getting him downhill early was important,” said Alabama head coach Nate Oats. “We need him to be aggressive. That transition and-1 he got hopefully got his confidence going. And I like the fact he went in to dunk the one, missed it. It didn’t really faze him. He just kept playing.
“I was happy with his aggressiveness. We need him playing aggressive.”
A play that demonstrated that the best was the transition dunk Oats mentioned after the victory. Alabama led Auburn, 25-21, with under nine minutes to go in the first half. Aden Holloway found an open Nelson, who drove to the basket and finished with authority over Dylan Cardwell. The officials called a foul on Cardwell, sending Nelson to the free-throw line.
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But before the North Dakota native stepped behind the charity stripe, he celebrated his highlight dunk by striking the “Crimson Crane” pose, much to the chagrin of the Neville Arena crowd.
“I just decided to,” Nelson said. “It was like the first thing in my head. He was standing in front of me, and I don’t know, I just did it.”
Not only did Nelson break out of his recent 7-game slump, he seemed to play with confidence from the jump on Saturday. If it is a sign of things to come for the 6-foot-11 forward, it couldn’t have come at a better time with the SEC and NCAA Tournaments upcoming.
As Oats noted after the game, Nelson had some huge March Madness moments a year ago.
“He was one of the best players in the country last year in March when we made our Final Four run,” Oats said. “Hopefully, we get Grant Nelson in March back for another March run for us.”
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