Bama Central

Who Nate Oats Expects to Be Back for Alabama Basketball's Season Opener

The No. 2 ranked Crimson Tide was missing four players with injury in the preseason exhibition games.

Katie Windham

Mar 22, 2024; Spokane, WA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (12) reacts after a play during the second half in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament against the Charleston Cougars at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.
Mar 22, 2024; Spokane, WA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (12) reacts after a play during the second half in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament against the Charleston Cougars at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama basketball was without four players in both of the team's two preseason exhibitions: Chris Youngblood, Grant Nelson, Aiden Sherrell and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. The only player that is expected to miss extended time and for sure be unavailble for Monday's season opener against UNC Asheville is Youngblood.

Head coach Nate Oats provided an update on the other players during Thursday's press conference.

"The other three have all been in practice, restricted to some stuff," Oats said. "Probably Wrightsell is furthest along followed by Sherrell and Grant. Grant's been held out of more things than the other two so far. But they've all done some things the last two days in practice."

Alabama will not practice on Friday, and then Oats and the staff will further evaluate after Saturday and Sunday's practices. He expects Wrightsell to be able to play and hopes that Sherrell and Nelson will at least be able to play some minutes. Oats said they would likely all three be on a minutes restriction in Monday night's game.

Nelson and Wrightsell are two of the returners from last year's Final Four team. Sherrell is a highly-rated freshman forward out of Detroit, Michigan.

Youngblood will be out for at least another month according to Oats. Alabama is hoping to have the transfer guard back by the middle of December. He averaged 15.3 points per game for USF last season.

No. 2 Alabama opens the season Monday night at 8 p.m. against UNC Asheville on ESPNU.

Read more: Alabama Basketball Predicted to Win SEC Championship

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Katie Windham
KATIE WINDHAM

Katie Windham is the assistant editor for BamaCentral, primarily covering football, basketball gymnastics and softball. She is a two-time graduate of the University of Alabama and has covered a variety of Crimson Tide athletics since 2019 for outlets like The Tuscaloosa News, The Crimson White and the Associated Press before joining BamaCentral full time in 2021. Windham has covered College Football Playoff games, the Women's College World Series, NCAA March Madness, SEC Tournaments and championships in multiple sports. 

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