Latrell Wrightsell to miss third straight game due to head injury
Alabama senior guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. will miss his third consecutive game due to a head injury, it was announced on the Crimson Tide Sports Network’s pregame show before the road game against Ole Miss. Wrightsell did not travel to Oxford, per a UA spokesperson.
Wrightsell suffered the head injury last Monday during practice and has not played in contests against Florida, Kentucky and now Ole Miss. No. 14-ranked Alabama (19-8, 11-3 SEC) will get forward Mohamed Wague back, however, following a one-game suspension.
Wrightsell has played in 25 of the Crimson Tide’s games this season, his first with the team after transferring from Cal State Fullerton, and he has been in the starting lineup for each of his last seven games. Wrightsell is averaging 9.0 points per game on the year but averaged 18.5 points during his last two outings and shot 10-of-17 from behind the 3-point line.
Wrightsell is shooting 42.4 percent from the field, 44.5 percent from three and 100 percent from the free-throw line this year. He is currently eighth in the SEC in 3-point percentage. Wrightsell has scored double-digit points in eight games, and the Tide has won all eight.
Freshman forward Jarin Stevenson replaced Wrightsell in the starting lineup the last two games, marking the first of his career. Another freshman, Sam Walters, also stepped up in Wrightsell’s absence against Florida, scoring 14 points on a season-high four made 3s.
“We’d love to have (Wrightsell),” head coach Nate Oats told CTSN. “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.
“I thought Davin Cosby had a really good practice yesterday. So maybe he could give us a few minutes tonight. 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 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 frontcourt and kind of let Sam play all his minutes in the backcourt.”
Tonight’s Alabama-Ole Miss game is scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m. CT and air on ESPN2.
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