Alabama Basketball's X-Factor Latrell Wrightsell Forces Overtime with Razorbacks on Senior Day
The No. 16 Alabama Crimson Tide missed its first four 3-point shots on Saturday against the Arkansas Razorbacks. The slow shooting start, combined with several sloppy turnovers put the home team into a quick 11-point deficit in the final contest inside Coleman Coliseum this season.
Senior Latrell Wrightsell, back in the starting lineup for the first time in three weeks, broke the shooting slump for Alabama by making the Tide's first 3-point shot with 12:10 remaining in the first half.
The Cal State Fullerton transfer only made one from range in the first half, but it was his steady hand in the second half that enabled the Crimson Tide to complete the comeback and force an overtime period.
"We need him in a bad way. I feel like if we would have had him in those games that he was out we definitely wouldn't have lost some of the ones we did. We'd have a league championship if he hadn't gone down, but that's some of the adversity we've got to play through," said Alabama head coach Nate Oats after the game "We didn't win a league championship, so let's get ourselves back together. Let's compete for a tournament championship. He played almost 40 minutes - he made some tough plays. You could tell he's probably not quite in good enough shape to play for 40 minutes, but he had to when we went to overtime. He went out with the trainer and he's just tough. He's a tough kid. He made big plays, you could kind of tell, he's bent over, struggling to breathe. We got him out quick, got with the trainer. Sam comes in and makes big plays, we get Trelly back in and he closes it for us. He was big."
Wrightsell scored 20 points on 8-12 shooting, converting at 50-percent from beyond the 3-point line. He made two of his 3-point shots in the game's last 2:32 while Alabama was still fighting from behind, including the game-tying shot with :21 seconds left to keep the Tide alive.
The transfer guard averages 9.1 points per game while making 44-percent from deep. Saturday was the ninth time this season that Wrightsell has gone for 10 or more points in a game, the Crimson Tide is now 9-0 when that threshold is met.
"He's a two-way player. He brings it on both sides of the floor. We need him to get 10-points and more in every game from here on out," said senior guard Mark Sears.
Alabama dropped three of the five games they were forced to play when Wrightsell was dealing with a head injury. His return provides much-needed front-court, a bullseye shooter and a confident ball handler as he's only turned the ball over 17 times the entire season.
The Crimson Tide season has come to a close with Alabama finishing 21-10 (13-5). The program honored six seniors after the overtime victory. Five of the honorees were transfers into the program at one point or another and while Sears rightfully gets the lion share of the attention it may just be Wrightsell and his skillset that is most important to the team's success.
"I would just say it's a blessing to be here. For all of the Crimson Tide to embrace me in as a senior. To play at a high-major school. To be here, to win the last home game. It's been a fun journey," said Wrightsell. "It's been a fun ride. Obviously, it's not done yet. I don't want to like sit back on it and soak on that. It's been a blessing to be here. I'm just thankful for it. I just really want to win a national championship to end this off."
