TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama head coach Nate Oats said his team will be “available and ready to play” when it travels to Nashville to face the Vanderbilt Commodores on Tuesday.
The game will take place two days after former Crimson Tide forward Darius Miles was arrested on Sunday and charged with capital murder. The junior forward was one of two men involved in a fatal shooting that took place just off of The Strip in Tuscaloosa. Miles along with Michael Lynn Davis were charged in the murder of Jamea Jones Harris, 23, who was shot in the 400 block of Grace Street off of University Boulevard, the Tuscaloosa Police Department said Sunday.
Miles was removed from the team roster and is no longer a member of the Crimson Tide basketball team the university and athletic department said in statements. On Monday, Oats shared his condolences and sympathies to the Harris family and said, “She was a daughter and a mother that was taken way too soon from a senseless act.”
Prior to the incident, UA announced that Miles would miss the remainder of the season with an ongoing ankle injury he suffered during the preseason. The forward hasn’t seen the floor since the Jackson State game on Dec. 20. A mere eight days later, Miles missed the trip to Starkville when Alabama traveled to face Mississippi State. After the game, Oats said Miles was out because of a personal matter.
“He actually went back home to (Washington) DC to deal with the personal matter that he was out a couple of weeks with, and he had the ankle injury that was kind of ongoing,” Oats said Monday. “He’s had multiple issues. They were all completely unrelated to this incident Sunday morning, though.”
When asked if there were other players involved in Sunday’s shooting, Oats said there wasn’t and expects the remaining team to be available for Tuesday’s game.
“All of us got together last night,” Oats said. “It’s an ongoing investigation. Our entire remaining team is traveling to Nashville and will be available to play in the game tomorrow.”