Nate Oats praises Cliff Omoruyi for returning to Texas A&M game after injury
It looked like Alabama was going to be without starting center Clifford Omoruyi for at least the rest of Saturday’s road game at Texas A&M, if not longer, after the big man rolled his ankle early in the second half. But Omoruyi later returned to the Crimson Tide’s 94-88 win.
Omoruyi appeared to step on teammate Jarin Stevenson’s foot and rolled his right ankle early in the second half. The 6-foot-11, 250-pound big man stayed down on the floor at Reed Arena and needed help off the court from Alabama trainer Clarke Holter. Omoruyi didn’t put pressure on his right leg as he slowly made his way to the visiting team’s locker room.
But Omoruyi returned to action and pulled down four second-half rebounds to help the Tide earn its eighth straight win. Alabama’s center finished the road victory with seven points, a team-best 10 rebounds and one block in 16 minutes and was key in the Crimson Tide out-rebounding A&M by eight, 54-46, including a slight 24-23 edge on the offensive glass.
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Alabama head coach Nate Oats praised the big man’s gutsy performance.
“I’ll say a lot about Cliff, man,” Oats said.
“A lot of guys would have just sat that one out after they rolled their ankle like he did. And he manned up, wanted to play, wanted to be there for his teammates. He ends up with 10 rebounds in 16-plus minutes, and you can’t say enough about it because we ended up getting 54 and he got about 20 percent of our rebounds.
“So big game for him.”
A transfer from Rutgers, Omoruyi averaged 15.5 minutes per game entering Alabamas’s top-5 matchup with Texas A&M. The center averaged 7.4 points and 6.1 points per game. Omoruyi was also second on the team in blocks (17) coming into the 16th game of the year. Saturday’s win over the Aggies marked his second game with double-digit rebounds this season.
The Crimson Tide will return to Tuscaloosa to take on No. 23 Ole Miss on Tuesday, Jan. 14.
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