Alabama men’s basketball coach Nate Oats said Monday that junior Darius Miles’ four-game absence for a “personal matter” in recent weeks was unrelated to his arrest Sunday for murder.

“He actually went back home to [Washington] D.C. to deal with the personal matter that he was out a couple of weeks with,” Oats said Monday. “He had the ankle injury. It was kind of ongoing. He’s had multiple issues. They were all completely unrelated to this incident Saturday, though, or Sunday morning.”

Miles was not on the team’s bench for its Dec. 28 game at Mississippi State, with Oats saying after that game, “We’re not sure how long he’ll be out. We’re supporting him through it and trying to help him through it. That’s why he wasn’t on the bench tonight. It’s a personal matter.”

RELATED: What Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats said Monday about Darius Miles arrest

Miles missed Alabama’s next three games against Ole Miss, Kentucky and Arkansas.

He returned to the team’s bench for its Saturday game against LSU, but the school announced an hour before tipoff that he would miss the remainder of the season because of an ankle injury that also kept him out of four early-season games.

Miles played in only six of Alabama’s 17 games before Sunday, when he was charged along with another man with capital murder for the shooting death of 23-year old Jamea Harris.

During his sophomore season in 2021-22, Miles was suspended for a violation of team rules for its Feb. 2, 2022 game against Kentucky. He also was healthy but did not play in a Dec. 29, 2021 game against Tennessee because of what Oats suggested were poor practice habits.

Miles was “removed from campus” by Alabama after his arrest and is no longer a member of the basketball team.

RELATED: Nate Oats: All remaining Alabama basketball players traveling to next game

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

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Darius Miles