DESTIN, Fla. | University of Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats confirmed on Thursday that Crimson Tide forward Tevin Mack had entered the NCAA transfer portal as a graduate student and was not expected to return for Alabama’s 2019-2020 season.
“If after two months with a staff, you still have questions about whether it’s the right place, it’s probably not the right place,” Oats said.
Mack played one year with Alabama after sitting out a year as a transfer from Texas. He averaged 8.7 pints per game in 34 appearances for UA in 2018-2019. Oats said he had not spoken with Mack but had comminicated with him via text.
His departure leaves Alabama with 12 players currently on scholarship, one under the NCAA limit of 13. However, Oats indicated that Alabama could have a full allotment of players before school starts in August.
“We do have one open scholarship,” Oats said. “We can’t really talk about recruits until we have the papers signed but I like where we are at in recruiting. Having that scholarship filled with a quality player soon is my hope.”
Alabama’s most recent visitor was guard Jahvon Quinnerly, who is looking to transfer after one season at Villanova. Quinnerly, a McDonald’s All-America team selection in 2018, was on an official visit to Pitt on Wednesday after leaving a weekend visit to Tuscaloosa on Monday morning.
Oats said Alabama still had three openings on its 2019-2020 schedule.
“We hope to get those worked out in the next few weeks and then we will announce the schedule,” he said.
He also expressed optimism about the upcoming season.: “The talent we have is better than I expected, to be honest,” Oats said. “We have enough talent to win enough games to make the NCAA Tournament.
“We have a lot of players that fit into the way we like to play. You look at Herb Jones in transition. Kira Lewis is one of the fastest point guards in the country. John Petty can definitely shoot and you need shooters to spread the floor. Alex Reese is a big kid who can shoot. Galin Smith can defend and rebounds and he is a tough kid. And we think we added some good players in the late period.”
