Nick Pringle thinks Latrell Wrightsell will be 'fine' vs. UNC
Latrell Wrightsell Jr. is a question mark for No. 4 Alabama going into the Sweet 16 tonight against No. 1 North Carolina in Los Angeles after another head injury in the Round of 32 win against Grand Canyon. Still, while his status remains up in the air going into tip-off tonight, Nick Pringle sounds confident that he will be good to go against the Tar Heels.
Pringle shared his opinion on Wrightsell’s availability ahead of their game this evening. He genuinely thinks Wrightsell will be available, even though the Tide are prepared to compete with or without him.
“I honestly think Latrell will be fine,” said Pringle. “I think we’ll still have a great game plan, if he plays or not. I think he will definitely play.”
Wrightsell has appeared in 30 games, including a dozen starts, in his first season with ‘Bama. That comes after he transferred in following three years at Cal State Fullerton. During this season in Tuscaloosa, he has averaged nine points, three rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.1 steals. He also shot 44.7% from the field and 44.3% from three in over 23 minutes a game.
In their 109-96 victory in the opening round against Charleston, Wrightsell started and scored 17 points. That was second-most on the team behind only the 30 from Mark Sears. He did it efficiently too while shooting 6-8 (75%) from the field, including 5-6 (83.3%) from three. He had an injury in that game as well with a bloodied nose at one point.
However, he played just 11 minutes and scored only two points versus the Lopes due to the head injury. He hit the floor after a closeout and then did not return to the game. In fact, he was already in street clothes by the time the team headed in for halftime. It was a second such instance of a issue regarding his head this season. He had already missed four games due to a similar matter toward the end of the regular season.
Following the 72-62 win over Grand Canyon, Nate Oats had originally thought that Wrightsell would be clear as well. Still, since then, he has walked back that thought with him designating the senior as day-to-day since then.
Alabama will want to have everyone available in hopes of making the Elite Eight for just the second time in program history. Even if Wrightsell can’t go, though, Pringle is confident in their team’s ability to do just that because of what they have in place for tonight.
“I think we’ll still have a great game plan,” Pringle said. “We have a lot of great players and a lot of great coaches that can make adjustments and be able to make it happen.”