University of Alabama men’s basketball coach Avery Johnson said Thursday that the Crimson Tide was “moving forward with the roster that we have” as UA heads into its sole exhibition game of the season against Alabama-Huntsville on Monday night.
Johnson added that two veteran players, forward Riley Norris (hip) and guard Ar’Mond Davis (bruised knee), would probably sit out the UAH exhibition due to injury.
“Riley is still week-to-week,” Johnson said. “He’s progressing. He’s starting to get some conditioning work on the treadmill. But I don’t think he would be available for this (exhibition) game. We’ll have an update on him before we travel to Maryland (for the Nov. 11 season opener against Memphis in Annapolis.)
“ArMond is still out and has not done any basketball activity.”
That would leave Alabama with the 11 players that participated in last Saturday’s “secret scrimmage” against Baylor in Atlanta. Freshman guard Collin Sexton led the Crimson Tide in the 75-67 UA win with 15 points while fellow freshman Herb Jones added 12 points.
“The one thing I love about our freshmen, they’re very confident,” Johnson said. There’s no lacking of confidence. They learned a lot about (major college) competition in that scrimmage.
“Herb has played well. He’s smart. He defends his position. It’s crazy what some of the (NBA scouts) that attend our practices have said about Herb.”
Johnson warned that UAH, under veteran coach Lennie Acuff, is a tough opponent as an opener.
“We are going to have to play well,” he said. “With the way we’ve been playing defense, I’m not going to be surprised by anything. A few years ago, Alabama played (UAH) in an exhibition game and needed JaMychal Green, who’s in the NBA now, to bail them out. But I am excited for our fans to come out and see us in real action.”
Prior to the Alabama-UAH contest, Stillman will play Mobile College at 4:30 p.m. as part of a Coleman Coliseum doubleheader on Monday. Johnson said the doubleheader was part of an effort to support Stillman basketball.
Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil@tidesports.com or 205-722-0225.
