Alabama guard surges for freshman of the week honor

By  WVUA 23 Digital Reporter Jeremy Bryant

Glory days are back in the Crimson Tide men’s basketball locker room with some headlines to celebrate for another week. While the team made it back into the AP Top-25, their prized point guard JD Davison turned a few more heads, earning SEC Freshman player of the week.

The former 5-star prospect was announced Monday for the honor for the past week that saw him put together his best stretch of performances this season. He became a huge factor in both games against Ole Miss and Arkansas offensively and becoming more stout defensively. Alabama head basketball coach Nate Oats also took notice of how well the growth has taken off for Davison when he spoke to reporters this week.

“The biggest area of growth, I think, is he’s gotten more comfortable playing  more aggressive on offense as he’s played harder on defense,” said Oats.

Davison’s surge was long awaited in a season where he has struggled to produce in games when the Tide needed him most.  He more than made up for his slow start to the season with his recent stellar performances.

He put his full arsenal on display against Ole Miss by making the opposing guards guess what his next move was going to be. He torched the rebels for 18 points and eight assists off the bench, missing only one shot from the floor.

Against Arkansas he played more of a reserved role to compliment backcourt studs, Jaden Shackleford and Jahvon Quninerly. He still managed to make his presence known leading the team in points and assists, setting the tempo for most of the game. His ability to strike fear in opponents forced Arkansas to switch to someone that could better handle his bigger frame and physicality.

This is the second instance that Davison has won the award this year. He previously held the honor early in the season where he went off for 20 points and five rebounds in a win against Gonzaga.

Davison has long been looked at possibly being a first-round prospect for the 2022 NBA draft in June since he was recruited in high school. Stringing together more showings like this past week will boost the confidence of the Tide going into the March tournament.