Alabama basketball will be without one of its starting guards for the next month and a half. Before Tuesday night's victory over Memphis, the Crimson Tide announced that sophomore Nimari Burnett had surgery on a broken left wrist. The injury is set to keep him out for 6-8 weeks, according to head coach Nate Oats.

Following Tuesday's game, Oats compared Burnett's injury to the one Herbert Jones suffered during the 2019-20 season. However, while Jones returned to the court two weeks later in a cast, the team won't take the same approach with Burnett.

"We don't want to bring him back with a cast on his hand," Oats said. "He's not Herb who's going to pull up 17 rebounds and you can kind of play him as a center on offense. He's a shooting guard, so shooting guards typically catch, pass dribble, shoot. We're going to bring him back when he can play with a brace on his hand, not a cast."

Burnett started Alabama's first nine games and was averaging 7.9 points and 2.3 rebounds. His biggest attribute was his defensive ability. During Alabama's 71-65 victory at previously top-ranked Houston over the weekend, he played a big role in limiting Cougars guard Marcus Sasser to 9 points on 2 of 11 shooting.

“His defense on Sasser was as big of a reason we won that game as any was,” Oats said Monday. “We’re really trying to pump him up on that, give him credit. Let’s maybe make him that type of guy for us, and I think his offense will continue to come. He’s a talented offensive player. He’s made shots at a high clip. We’ve seen him make shots. He can finish. You saw his dunk the other night. His athleticism is coming back.

“Hopefully we can get him going here a little bit offensively. Maybe the defense will spur the offense. He’s already starting to come offensively. He’s starting to get a little bit more comfortable.”