Nate Oats impressed by Jahvon Quinerly's defense against Arkansas

On3 imageby:Barkley Truax01/12/23

BarkleyTruax

Jahvon Quinerly has been forced to take a step back in Alabama‘s offense this season. He isn’t scoring at the rate he did a year ago, instead the senior has focused on his defensive ability – and he’s improved tremendously, according to head coach Nate Oats.

“Quinerly is really coming along on the defensive end, I’m really happy for him defensively,” Oats said after defeating Arkansas 84-69. “If you look at the game, he was a +13 when he was in tonight, and he only played 11 minutes because he had foul trouble. He had four fouls.

“I thought he was good. He had the one turnover late where the ball just slipped out of his hands, but I thought his aggressiveness, getting downhill was big. We put him in to help the offense, but he really helped the defense.”

Quinerly finished the win with four points on four shot attempts, one assist and three turnovers. His limited minutes forced his numbers to suffer, but his defense helped hold the high-scoring Razorbacks to under 70 points for the third time all season.

The shift in his playing style comes after he spent the entire offseason recovering from a torn ACL. He hasn’t been the up-and-down scorer we were so accustomed to, and a slew of talented freshmen aren’t helping his case for more minutes.

After starting 27 of Alabama’s 33 games last season, Quinerly hasn’t started in any of the 14 games he’s played in this year. His numbers have dwindled, too. After posting around 13 points per game during his first two seasons in Tuscaloosa, he’s averaging under seven this year.

Quinerly can turn it on when his number is called, though. He averages around 17 minutes a game this season, only eclipsing the 20-minute mark one time this year. That came during Alabama’s quadruple overtime win over then-No. 1 North Carolina. He posted 44 minutes scoring 21 points, eight assists and six rebounds in the 103-101 victory.

That performance proves he still has the potential to take over a game when necessary and remains a valuable member of Nate Oats’ scheme as Quinerly’s senior season continues.