SPOKANE, Wash. — Alabama coach Nate Oats said Latrell Wrightsell Jr., who left Sunday’s game with a head injury, is likely to play in the Crimson Tide’s Sweet 16 matchup next week in Los Angeles.
“Wrightsell will be able to play with us Thursday,” Oats said after Alabama’s 72-61 win over Grand Canyon in the second round of the NCAA tournament. “He got elbowed in the head, had a head injury. He’s had some real bad luck here lately, but we’re going to be playing again and he can play with us again on Thursday.”
Wrightsell left the game with 6:36 left in the first half after he suffered a head injury while attempting to block a shot. He was attended to by Alabama’s training staff and was later taken to the locker room and did not return.
“Once we came in at halftime, he was there dapping us up and when we were in the locker room we said, we’re going to win this game for him so we can play on Thursday, and that’s what we did,” said Alabama’s Mark Sears, who led the Tide with 26 points on Sunday.
The 6-foot-3, 190-pound guard from Omaha missed four games earlier this season with a head injury. His absence coincided with a stretch in which Alabama lost four of six games through the end of the regular season and the SEC tournament.
Wrightsell finished Sunday’s game with two points and two fouls in 11 game minutes played. He’s averaged 9.3 points and is shooting 45.1% from the floor and 44.9% from deep this season.
“That’s my brother, for real,” Rylan Griffen added. “He came from the West Coast. That’s where he was at last year, so he got some friends and family out there. So I came in the team, and I was like, there’s no way that was his last game for the season. So just made sure we had to get through — for me, personally, I know he wants to play.
“I know he didn’t want to get hurt today. He went out there and gave everything for us for the time he did play. So I was just like, let’s make sure we make sure Trelly has a chance to play again for us this season.”
Alabama, the 4-seed in the West Region, will play top-seeded North Carolina in the regional semifinals next Thursday in Los Angeles.
“We play for each other every game,” said Mo Dioubate, who scored nine points in the final six minutes to lift Alabama to victory. “We know how much Trelly wanted to play in L.A., and so we seen how hurt he was once went out game, so we just tried to do everything we can for him.”
Leave a Reply