How Alabama's Longest-Tenured Player Expects Team to Respond After Georgia Loss

No. 16 Alabama came into Tuesday night as one of the hottest college basketball teams in America.

After falling to Florida on Feb. 1 to bring its conference record to an eyebrow-raising 4-4, the Crimson Tide has won eight straight games and clinched a double bye for the SEC Tournament.

But sometimes a win streak can make a team a bit complacent. This seemed to be the case against Georgia, as the Crimson Tide lost 98-88 in Athens. Head coach Nate Oats said on Monday that this could be a "trap game," and Alabama looked sluggish from start to finish.

Alabama will play its final game of the regular season at home on Saturday against Auburn in the second rendition of the Iron Bowl of Basketball. The Tide won the first meeting on Feb. 7 in Neville Arena, and a victory this weekend would clinch Oats and company the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament. So, how will UA rebound from this wakeup call over the next couple of days?

"Oh, the response, it'll be good," Alabama guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. said with a slight laugh after the road loss. "We are going to have a great film session. Guys are going to get in the gym. Guys are going to not take it as unserious as they were. I mean, it's eye-opening when you lose, but when you win, you get a lot of social media, you get a lot of things that are byproducts of the winning.

"But when you lose, no one's there for you, so you don't have anybody to hype you up or anything like that. When no one gets social media posts, when no one gets anything, and everything is negative, then everybody wants to flip the script. I know that we're going to be locked in. I know we shouldn't have lost this game, and we did. Coach Oats will let us know in his film session the next day."

Wrightsell is the lone Alabama player who was a member of the 2023-24 Final Four team. He's in his sixth season of basketball, playing three with the Crimson Tide after starting his career with Cal State Fullerton. He's been labeled by Oats as a leader of this team on numerous occasions, and the graduate takes that very seriously during games like Tuesday night.

"I know what it takes to win at this level," Wrightsell said. "And I've been in this situation where we came back before, so I know what it took and I don't think we had that same mentality as a team. I felt like a lot of people just weren't giving us the same energy that we normally see out of everybody else.

"When you're on an eight-game win streak, it's easy to just take it easy on everybody else, but every SEC game is a tough opponent. No game is a buy game. I was just trying to instill that in all my teammates. Like, this isn't easy. Nothing is going to be easy. We're in March...this is where we need to be peaking."

It's been quite the few days for Wrightsell. Most recently, he was named the SEC Co-Player of the Week following his performances against Mississippi State and Tennessee. He averaged 21.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 turnovers in those victories.

Wrightsell has missed a handful of games this season due to various injuries. It's been a bit of a concern, as his 2024-25 campaign ended very early after he ruptured his Achilles. But his recent production has put a lot in perspective, as this is his final year of eligibility at this level.

"I had a lot of trials and tribulations through this process of playing here, a lot of ups and downs," Wrightsell said. "I want to finish off with a bang. Where I've been at, which is the Final Four, I don't want to not go back there. I want to be there, and I want to go to the National Championship and do something that this program hasn't done to end off my legacy here.

"So that's the reason why I've been so fiery. I just want to be known as a winner at the end of the day. Bring whatever I have and give all it takes and put everything I have on the floor for the Crimson Tide nation, because I truly love it here, and it's been a blessing to me."