Alabama men’s basketball announced a significant loss on Tuesday, as fifth-year guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. is out for the season after suffering an injury Saturday during the final game of the Players Era Festival tournament.
“We did get an MRI on Latrell,” head coach Nate Oats said in a press conference Tuesday. “He did rupture his achilles tendon, and he’s out for the year, which is disappointing.”
Wrightsell was helped from the court after suffering a non-contact injury while chasing an offensive rebound with 18:51 left in the second half.
“He’s going to have surgery on Wednesday. We expect a full recovery,” Oats said. “He’ll get back to a high level of basketball after his recovery.”
Wrightsell has been an important piece of Alabama’s offense, starting five games this season as one of the best shooters on the team since transferring from Cal State Fullerton.
“He’s leading the team in 3-point percentage. He’s one of the better shooters in the country,” Oats said.
Averaging 11.5 points per game while shooting a team-high 42.2% from beyond the arc, Wrightsell will be hard to replace. His loss will also shorten the guard rotation even more after Chris Youngblood suffered an ankle injury during preseason practice.
“Chris Youngblood is practicing every day,” Oats said. “We have to get where he is comfortable to start playing in games.”
Youngblood is expected to make his Crimson Tide debut soon, hopefully helping pick up the slack from 3-point range.
Fans can expect to see a different rotation with Aden Holloway and Labaron Philon playing significantly more if Youngblood doesn’t make his debut and if Houston Mallette keeps his redshirt. The Mallette redshirt is a scenario that Oats said was “still on the table.”
The Crimson Tide will travel to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to play UNC on Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. CT in the ACC/SEC Challenge. The game can be streamed on ESPN.
