Kai Spears transfers to Marshall from Alabama basketball

Alabama basketball guard Kai Spears has transferred to Marshall to play basketball, sources with direct knowledge tell The Tuscaloosa News.

Spears was a walk-on player who was put on scholarship in the second half of the 2023-24 season. He’s a 6-foot-2, 160-pound guard. Spears’ father, Christian Spears, is the athletics director at Marshall.

Oats decided to put Spears on scholarship the week before the Mississippi State game, as Alabama had been using 12 of its 13 scholarships and wasn’t going to fill the last one before the end of the season.

Then in his first game action on scholarship, Spears made the most of the 1:02 he received at the end of a rout of the Bulldogs; Spears tallied five points, made both free throws, drew a foul and drained a 3-pointer.

“He doesn’t play scared,” coach Nate Oats said in February. “He went to the rim. He made his two free throws. He made the one (3-pointer). Pretty productive 1:02.”

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Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men’s basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama basketball: Kai Spears transfers to Marshall