In terms of the NCAA’s NET rankings, there is no debate about Alabama’s two biggest wins so far this season: both on the road at No. 1 Houston and No. 15 Arkansas.

Between those two games, Alabama’s phenom freshman Brandon Miller has made a total of three shots.

Miller, who has become a bona fide lottery pick in this summer’s NBA draft, shot 0-for-8 from the field when Alabama knocked off top-ranked Houston last month. On Wednesday night, Miller was held without a shot during the first half at Arkansas and made only three shots in the second half.

He made his last two attempts count, knocking down back-to-back three pointers that followed a Noah Clowney triple to extinguish the Razorbacks’ comeback bid.

“It’s hard to keep a player like him down for 40 minutes,” Tide coach Nate Oats said Friday. “You saw — he didn’t need much within a short amount of time at Arkansas. He broke that thing wide open.”

Miller, the SEC’s leading scorer, is unquestionably the top priority for opposing teams as they break down the Tide’s 16 games of film. But among the most impressive aspects of Alabama’s 14-2 start and No. 4 national ranking has been the ability by both Miller and his teammates to overcome the intense efforts to stop him.

As a five-star recruit and McDonald’s high school All-American, there was always an expectation Miller would be the star of the show this season for Alabama. That began to play out when he led the team in scoring during all three games of its August foreign tour, and when he averaged 21 points over Alabama’s first five games this season.

But Miller has been held to less than 20 points in nine of Alabama’s past 11 games, with one of the exceptions coming Dec. 17 in Birmingham when he dropped 36 in a track-meet loss to Gonzaga. Miller attempted seven free-throws Wednesday night but his four field goal attempts in Fayetteville were a season low.

Oats described Friday how defenses are attacking Miller.

“Arkansas did a great job just denying him catches everywhere,” Oats said. “Being physical with him, deny him the ball, switching him — if he’s a screener, teams have switched onto him. They’ve done that some. Those are some of the best ways they’ve been able to do it.”

Oats schemed to get Miller the first shot of the second half at Arkansas after he was held without one for the first half, but the coach lauded how his star freshman handled the lack of opportunity in the first half.

“I think he’s grown up,” Oats said after the game. “In the past, when he couldn’t get a shot — I mean, he didn’t get a shot attempt in the first half — he’d get a little frustrated.”

Miller’s teammates have noticed the same.

“I think he’s grown a lot this season,” freshman guard Rylan Griffen said. “I know earlier [in the season] he probably would have tried to rush it or force them. He didn’t force nothing, and then when we needed him, he came up clutch. That’s what star players do. That’s what he is.”

Added another freshman, forward Noah Clowney on Miller: “He didn’t drop his head or nothing. He just kept moving, positive attitude. Nobody is going to stick to you for 40 minutes.”

The attention on Miller has helped other Alabama players see more scoring chances lately. That included guard Mark Sears, who is Alabama’s second-leading scorer (15.4 points per game) and had 12 first-half points, and a season-high 26 total, at Arkansas.

“When they’re going to play him like that, that opens the floor up for everybody else,” Oats explained. “If they’re just gonna lock onto him, there’s more space on the floor for everybody else, and we were able to take advantage of that.

“I think Brandon’s got a lot better at understanding he’s got to be a screener. Get your teammates open. We’ve got enough firepower. If they’re going to lock onto him, like some of the teams have been doing, it’s a lot easier to score on a 4-on-4 game than it is a 5-on-5.”

And eventually, defenses will slip up.

“In the game of basketball, as fast as we play, he’s going to get cross-matched, he’s going to get stuff in transition, he’s gonna stuff in the flow enough I think even when teams do that,” Oats said. “He’s gonna find his way to get loose at some point in the game.”

Miller was projected last month by ESPN as the NBA’s No. 7 overall pick this summer.

“We knew Brandon Miller was really good,” Oats said. “He’s probably better than what a lot of people thought he was going to be, even though we knew he was going to be great.”

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.