Nate Oats provides injury update on Latrell Wrightsell Jr.
LOS ANGELES — Alabama guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. is not guaranteed to see the floor in the Crimson Tide’s Sweet 16 clash against North Carolina. Wednesday, Alabama coach Nate Oats said Wrightsell is still being evaluated on a daily basis after injuring his head during the Crimson Tide's game against Grand Canyon last weekend.
"He's basically on a day-to-day basis now," Oats said. "I'm not sure if he'll be available or not until they let us know tomorrow."
Following Oats' press conference Alabama forward Nick Pringle had a more optimistic prognosis on his teammate.
"I honestly think Latrell will be fine," Pringle said. "I think we'll still have great game plan if he plays or not. I think he will definitely play. But I think we'll still have a great game plan. We have a lot of great players. We have a lot of great coaches that can make adjustments, and we'll make it happen."
In addition to Wrightsell's uncertain status, Alabama is without redshirt freshman guard Davin Cosby, who broke his foot last week. Other than those two, Oats said the rest of his team is healthy for Thursday's game against North Carolina.
Oats told Tide 100.9 earlier this week that Wrightsell’s status is uncertain after he left the Crimson Tide’s round of 32 game against Grand Canyon with a head injury in the first half and didn’t return to the floor. The update was a change from Oats’ statement after the game when Oats said Wrightsell would be available against the Tar Heels.
With 6:36 remaining in the first half against Grand Canyon, Wrightsell went to contest a 3-point shot by Grand Canyon’s Gabe McGlothan and caught an elbow to the top of the head from the Lopes’ guard on the way down.
Wrightsell remained down on the court for a couple of minutes with the training staff before getting up by himself and walking to the locker room and was eventually ruled out for the rest of the game. Before the injury, Wrightsell had 2 points, shooting 1-for-4 from the field.
In Alabama’s first game against Charleston, Wrightsell logged 17 points and five made 3-pointers. He averaged nine points, three rebounds and 1.4 assists per game this season.
The No. 4 seed Crimson Tide faces No. 1 seed North Carolina at 8:39 CT Thursday in Los Angeles.