Latrell Wrightsell out vs. Ole Miss with head injury

Alabama guard Latrell Wrightsell will miss Wednesday’s game against Ole Miss due to a head injury, according to BamaOnLine’s Charlie Potter.

It will be the third game he has missed.

“We’d love to have (Wrightsell). We’re a little thin in the backcourt without him. You’ve got guys like Sam Walters that can three or four. It’d be nice if all of his minutes were able to play at the three. He could be a little more backcourt depth,” head coach Nate Oats said pregame.

Before the Crimson Tide’s last matchup, Wrightsell had played in every game for Alabama this season. He’s averaging 9.0 points per game this season, but bumped that average up to 18.5 per game over the last two games before his injury, including knocking down 10 total 3-point baskets. 

Without Wrightsell on the court, Alabama is missing out on a 44.5 percent 3-point shooter — which ranked fifth in the SEC at the time of his injury. He’s scored in double figures eight times this season and the Crimson Tide are 8-0 in such games.

Still, Oats is moving on with his game plan knowing that Wrightsell is out of the lineup. He provided a bit of insight on that prior to tip-off.

“I thought Davin Cosby had a really good practice yesterday. So maybe he could give us a few minutes tonight,” Oats continued. “I hope he looks as good in the game as he looked in practice and able to rest guys like Aaron (Estrada), Mark (Sears) and Rylan (Griffen) so they can be more fresh and play hard on defense. Just take a few minutes off each of those guys’ minutes.

“We need guys like Jarin (Stevenson) and Grant (Nelson), Nick (Pringle), Mo (Dioubate) to be better for us in the frontcourt so that basically they take all the minutes in the front court and kind of let Sam (Walters) play all his minutes in the backcourt.”

Tip-off between the Crimson Tide and Rebels is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET live on ESPN2. Alabama is a 5.5-point betting favorite over the Rebels on the road. ESPN Analytics predicts Alabama to have an 83.7 percent of escaping Oxford with a victory. KenPom expects a final score of 88-81 in the Crimson Tide’s favor.

If Alabama escapes Ole Miss, they’ll round out their regular season with matchups against No. 4 Tennessee, No. 24 Florida and Arkansas ahead of the SEC Tournament.