Grant Nelson delivered for Alabama basketball when they needed it most

An argument could have been made that benching Grant Nelson for Saturday’s contest against Auburn made the most sense to allow the graduate senior forward extra time to get healthy. It’s been obvious that he has been playing through an injury. His effort level hasn’t waned, but he’s been limited in what he’s been able to do on the offensive end of the court.

Nelson has endured a lot of criticism from the Alabama fanbase as a result, particularly in the aftermath of Wednesday’s Senior Night loss to Florida where Nelson and fellow graduate senior Cliff Omoruyi were bullied by the big front line of the Gators.

In the previous eight games heading into Saturday’s Iron Bowl of Basketball rematch at Auburn, Nelson hadn’t scored more than 12 points. He was averaging just a smidge over eight points per game in those contests.

Nate Oats challenged both Nelson and Omoruyi to play harder against Auburn, and the two delivered. They combined for 38 points and 16 rebounds to pace the Crimson Tide’s 93-91 win over Auburn.

Nelson did a lot of heavy lifting on offense, finishing with 23 points and 8 rebounds on 8-of-15 from the floor and 3-of-5 from three-point range. Nelson was 3 of his last 18 from long range prior to Saturday afternoon in Neville Arena.

Nelson came into Saturday’s game motivated and with an attitude. Maybe nothing major was on the line, but you could tell how much winning that game meant to him. You could tell how much it meant to every player on each team, too. It was one of the best games of the season in college basketball and further proved that this is the best rivalry in college sports right now.

Nelson set the tone in the first half with his performance and with a thunderous dunk over Auburn’s Dylan Cardwell where Nelson punctuated it by hitting the “Crimson Crane” right in the face of Johni Broome:

Nelson came up big down the stretch. He scored a bucket late in the second half that gave Alabama a 79-77 lead with around a minute to go. He also made the defensive stop Alabama needed to force overtime, locking up Broome and forcing him into a difficult 19-foot baseline fadeaway.

In overtime with Alabama trailing by one with just over a minute to play, Nelson came up with a big offensive rebound and put-back off of a Labaron Philon missed three that put the Tide ahead 88-87.

Grant Nelson might hold the key to Alabama making another deep NCAA Tournament run

“I was happy with his aggressiveness,” Oats said after the game about Nelson. “We need him playing aggressive. He was one of the best players in the country last year in March when we made our Final Four run. Hopefully, we get Grant Nelson in March back for another March run for us.”

Alabama doesn’t make the Final Four last year without Nelson. He put the team on his back down the stretch against North Carolina in the Sweet 16. He scored 24 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and blocked 5 shots to lead the Crimson Tide over the Heels.

Against UConn in the Final Four, Nelson more than held his own against Donovan Clingan, scoring 19 points and hauling in 15 rebounds.

Alabama needs that version of Nelson in order to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament in two weeks. This team is as talanted as anyone in the country, and if Nelson can play at his highest level, this team is going to be tough to beat.

We know Alabama can have elite guard play with Mark Sears, Labaron Philon, and Aden Holloway. Chris Youngblood and Jarin Stevenson are capable of getting hot from three. If Nelson and Omoruyi play to the level they played today, teamed with the guards played at an elite level, this team is fully capable of winning the whole thing.