Alabama men’s basketball needs to heal up if it’s going to have a shot at winning the SEC.
“Took Wednesday off to try and get guys healthy,” Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said.
A day off becomes a necessity when you have five scholarship players having been out for the Mississippi State game this past week.
Latrell Wrightsell Jr., Davion Hannah, Taylor Bol Bowen, Keitenn Bristow and Collins Onyejiaka all were listed as out on the availability report prior to the game Alabama won Tuesday in Starkville. Onyejiaka hasn’t been able to play much this season, so his absence wasn’t new. But it underscores the lack of people available.
On the Friday night availability report, Bol Bowen was no longer listed, but Wrightsell, Bristow, Hannah and Onyejiaka were all listed as out.
“Latrell is improving,” Oats said. “He’s doing some basketball workouts. Didn’t practice today. Nothing really further on him. Keitenn’s out indefinitely with a right ankle injury. Taylor attempted to practice today. His hand’s not obviously full speed. We’ll see how it responds after practice today and see what he’s got.”
The No. 18 Crimson Tide is preparing to face Oklahoma on Saturday (Noon CT, SEC Network) in Norman.
The Crimson Tide managed to defeat Mississippi State 97-82 despite only having eight scholarship players available. So it can make do with fewer players, but that’s far from ideal.
“Us being down has kind of galvanized the group that’s playing,” Oats said. “They’ve kind of proven to be some tough kids pulling together. Sometimes you need a little adversity to pull the group together. I think that’s what’s happened with this group. We got down to a low number of guys. They knew they needed to bring it. They brought it. Guys we put on that floor against Mississippi State were some warriors.”
