Alabama men’s basketball will return the starting guards that helped it to a Sweet 16, according to a report released on Wednesday afternoon.

A day after Mark Sears announced he was “back,” his fellow guard Jahvon Quinerly told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein that Quinerly would exercise his sixth and final year of eligibility in Tuscaloosa under head coach Nate Oats.

Quinerly had a pre-draft workout with the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday as Oats told reporters at the SEC spring meetings they anticipated Quinerly’s return to create “one of the best backcourts in the country”.

The guard gives Alabama two-fifths of its starting lineup back with Charles Bediako, Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney all remaining NBA draft-eligible (the deadline to return to school is May 31 at midnight).

Quinerly wasn’t honored during Alabma’s last senior day, instead opting to be a part of the ceremony at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season. Quinerly has averaged 11.8 points, 3.7 assists and 2.4 rebounds a game, shooting 34.8% from 3-point range in his Tide career.

“He could probably make more money — he was one of those, with the whole Jelly Fam thing, his NIL opportunities would have been a lot bigger right when he was coming out of high school [in 2018]. He had a big name. But he’s been able to capitalize on it more now. You see his name popping up more on different things,” Oats said in February about Quinerly’s future.

The Hackensack, N.J. native was a McDonald’s All-American coming out of high school in 2018 and played a year at Villanova before transferring to Alabama in 2020. He joined the starting lineup ahead of the postseason and sparked the Tide to an SEC regular-season and conference championship.

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].