Alabama basketball star out for Kentucky game, another uncertain

Alabama basketball will once again be without one of its top talents against Kentucky. Derrion Reid will miss his second game in a row, due to a lingering hamstring injury, according to the SEC’s availability report, released Friday evening.

Furthermore, Crimson Tide guard Mark Sears was listed on the report. Sears was labeled as probably for Saturday’s matchup with the Wildcats.

Alabama coach Nate Oats did not mention either player’s injury during his Friday press conference. However, before Reid missed Wednesday’s matchup with Missouri, Oats said the injury has made for a difficult recovery.

“I think he’s going to be a pro,” Oats said. “He came in a McDonald’s all-American, he’s got all the intangibles, as far as tough, great attitude, high IQ, he’s athletic, a lot of the stuff that pros are looking for. We really don’t want to hurt his long-term career by rushing something to win a game or two.”

Reid missed significant time before returning to action against Auburn on Saturday. He played five minutes in the loss, reaggravating the injury in the process.

Ahead of the Missouri game, Oats said Reid offers defensive ability that Alabama has missed in his absence.

“Derrion’s one of our best positional size, athletic defenders, and he’s done very good jobs on different guys when he’s been healthy throughout the year,” Oats said. “It would be great to have him.”

Meanwhile, Oats did not sound as if he anticipated Sears missing Saturday’s game. Sears scored 30 points in defeat at Kentucky.

“That might have been Mark’s best game,” Oats said Friday. “Obviously he scored it well, but he scored it very efficiently. He only took three more shots than he did against Auburn, scored double the amount of points. And I thought his effort on defense was as good as it’s been all year.

“So I think Mark’s legs are under him. Mark’s done a really good job making sure he’s ready to go.”

Alabama and Kentucky are scheduled to tip off at 5 p.m. CT Saturday in Tuscaloosa. The game will be aired on ESPN.