TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — On Saturday, Alabama coach Nate Oats expressed concern that starting guard Latrell Wrightsell sustained an Achilles injury in a close loss to Oregon. On Tuesday, Oats confirmed the worst: Wrightsell, a fifth-year senior, sustained a ruptured Achilles injury that will end his 2024-25 season. He will have surgery on Wednesday and is expected to make a full recovery.
In eight games this season, Wrightsell was third on the team in points per game (11.4), free throw shooting (85.7 percent) and minutes per game (25.6).
Because he has played less than 30 percent of the schedule, Wrightsell is eligible for a medical redshirt, which is something he and Oats have discussed.
No. 10 Alabama (6-2) travels to No. 12 North Carolina (4-3) on Wednesday for the ACC-SEC challenge with a 7:15 p.m. ET tipoff on ESPN.
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“He’s already a college graduate, so a lot goes into that,” Oats said. “Right now our focus is with him and his family. A couple weeks go on, we’ll start to figure out what the next steps are on that.”
Wrightsell has been a key contributor to Alabama’s success since his arrival last season. He’s one of the steadiest ball-handlers on the team (0.8 turnovers per game dating back to last season), and he has been the team’s most consistent shooter this season. Wrightsell leads Alabama this season in 3-pointers made (19) and 3-point percentage (42.2) with the next-highest guard being Aden Holloway at 34.2 percent.
Wrightsell’s loss compounds an unlucky streak of guard injuries for Alabama to start this season. Houston Mallette (a Pepperdine transfer) is redshirting due to a lingering knee issue from the summer. Chris Youngblood (a South Florida transfer) suffered an ankle injury in preseason practice and has yet to play, although his rehab is ramping up for a return soon.
“He’s practicing every day,” Oats said of Youngblood. “Gotta get to where he feels comfortable playing in games. Then there will be a ramp-up period, minutes restriction once he’s able to start playing in games. I’m still not sure when that’s going to be, so we’re a little bit short-handed in the interim.”
With Wrightsell’s injury, removing Mallette’s redshirt is a possibility. In three years at Pepperdine, Mallette averaged 13.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game and shot 37.5 percent from 3-point range.
“It’s still on the table,” Oats said. “You don’t want to mess with what’s best for the kid. What we’re trying to figure out is will there be enough minutes to make that worthwhile.”
Youngblood’s eventual return will soften the blow at guard and should provide an offensive spark. He led South Florida in scoring last season (15.3 points) en route to being named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, and he has shot better than 40 percent from 3-point range in three straight seasons. Alabama is scoring at a high clip — 88.6 points per game (11th nationally) — but it hasn’t been efficient. The Tide rank 104th nationally in field goal percentage (46.8) and a staggering 220th (out of 355) in 3-point percentage (32.5).
Turnovers have been a problem area: Alabama has had 50 total turnovers in the past three games and ranks 217th nationally with 13 turnovers per game.
“Guys have to learn how we want to play,” Oats said of his roster with eight new players. “There’s been a big emphasis on getting our spacing corrected over the last few days.”
Getting Mark Sears back on track has been the top priority, and Wrightsell’s absence adds another layer to that discussion. Sears, the preseason SEC Player of the Year, is struggling by his standards. His 16.0 points per game are his lowest in any season since 2021, and he is shooting career lows in field goal percentage (35.1), 3-point percentage (28.8) and free throw percentage (79.7).
“We’ve looked at all of his 3s this year and last year to see if there’s a difference,” Oats said. “Teams are definitely gearing their defenses towards him. Spacing hasn’t been great, so he hasn’t been able to get enough space to step into his shots. We have to get him off the ball more and spaced wide in a way to where he can step into his shot.”
Without Wrightsell and with Youngblood on the mend, Alabama will turn to Holloway, a sophomore and true freshman Labaron Philon for bigger roles. Each has flashed this season but needs to be more consistent on offense.
North Carolina will offer a tough test for a short-handed Alabama backcourt. Led by preseason All-American RJ Davis, the Tar Heels’ four leading scorers are guards: Davis, Seth Trimble, Elliot Cadeau and Ian Jackson.
“We have different matchups for (Davis),” Oats said. “I think we have a decent plan; we’ll see how it goes as the game goes along.”
(Photo: Candice Ward / Getty Images)
