Nate Oats provides timeline on Nimari Burnett injury, update on health of assistant coach

Alabama came away with an impressive 91-88 victory against Memphis on Tuesday night, but was missing one of its regular starters in guard Nimari Burnett. The sophomore recently underwent surgery for a left wrist injury, and coach Nate Oats provided an update postgame the timetable for his return.

According to Oats, Burnett will miss somewhere between 6-8 weeks. The coach compared the injury to one suffered by Herb Jones in the 2019-20 season, but said Alabama will handle it differently given Nimari Burnett’s position.

“It’s similar to what Herb had, but we don’t want to bring him back with a cast on his hand,” Oats said. “He’s not Herb that’s gonna pull down 17 rebounds and can kind of play him as a center on offense. He’s a shooting guard. Shooting guards need to be able to catch, pass, dribble, shoot. We’re gonna bring him back when he can play with a brace on his hand, not a cast. So could be a little bit longer, but same injury Herb had our first year here.”

Injuries have plagued the short career of Burnett thus far, missing all of the 2021-2022 season due to a torn ACL. He transferred into the Alabama program after initially committing to play for the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Burnett has played a critical role for Alabama this season on both ends of the court. As most guards are in a Nate Oats system, Burnett is able to connect from behind the arc, shooting 34.5% from three through nine games. Overall, he is averaging 7.9 points with a career-high 18 points coming against Jacksonville State.

Oats also provided an update on assistant coach Bryan Hodgson, who was not on the bench Tuesday. Oats said Hodgson was out with an illness, but should rejoin the team for a matchup against No. 15 Gonzaga at noon CT on Saturday.

“Hodgson’s out sick,” Oats said. “We just didn’t want him to get the rest of the team. It’s just an illness. He’ll be back with the team Saturday as long as he’s feeling better. We just wanted to make sure he didn’t get any illness to the rest of the team.”