Grant Nelson injury update: Nate Oats reveals latest on Alabama star before Sweet 16

Alabama head coach Nate Oats provided the latest on injured star Grant Nelson. He’s not quite 100%, but it looks like Nelson will be back in action for the Sweet 16.

The Crimson Tide are set to play No. 6 BYU in the Sweet 16 Thursday night. Nelson should be back in the fold to help continue the quest for a national title.

Nelson did play against Saint Mary’s after he was ruled a game-time decision against the Gaels. He logged 28 minutes and put up 12 points, eight rebounds and two assists.

“Yeah, for the most part,” Oats said. “I talked to Grant. He says he was at 90 percent, but then his point was I’ve been at 90 percent of the most of the year. I don’t know who is at 100 percent this point of the year. Cliff is for sure healthy. Grant is pretty healthy. Not 100 percent but close enough.

“We’ve got everything about as close to 100 as you’re going to be able to get at this point of the year. And Grant is probably the furthest from that, but like he made the point to me, he hasn’t been better than 90 for the last month or so. I think we’ll have our full roster available for us to play this game.”

So now, Nelson should be in better health with the extended rest between games. A game-time decision after missing the last week with a sprained ankle, the 6-foot-11 Nelson was cleared to play before tip. Still, he spent the game’s first 31 minutes on the bench as Oats planned to sit him during Alabama’s first-round NCAA Tournament game.

But once Robert Morris hung around for a little too long, Nelson let Oats know he was going in the game. The Alabama head coach didn’t stop him.

“I mean, when he told me he was ready, I think he sensed it like ‘Oh, we can’t afford to lose this.’ He stood up like (he was saying) ‘Put me in,’” Oats told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein during a postgame interview. “We were trying to get out of that game without playing him, but it does us no good if he doesn’t play and we go home.”