Nate Oats Praises Alabama's Unsung Heroes Following St. John's Victory

Alabama head coach Nate Oats had a lot of good things to say about his team's gritty 103-96 win over No. 5 St. John's on Saturday in Madison Square Garden.

But after the final question of the press conference was answered, he asked, "Can I make one more point?"

"Our trainer and our training staff, if you watched, you look at the two guys that maybe wouldn’t play, like [Aden] Holloway and [Latrell] Wrightsell," Oats said. "End up with 21 [points], four [assists] and zero from Holloway, 17 [points], three [assists] and zero [turnovers] from Wrightsell.

"And the fact that Wrighstell hasn’t been able to practice because he’s been hurt, I just think they deserve a little credit because we would never have won this game if those guys weren’t available to play.

"They did an unbelievable job. Probably at some of the places, they wouldn’t have played today, and they did a really good job getting in there. So, I’m proud of a lot of people in our program. The training staff is right at the top. So, I appreciate you guys. It’s great being out here."

Alabama guards Aden Holloway and Latrell Wrightsell Jr., two of the Crimson Tide's five returners from last season, made their season debuts on Saturday after missing the North Dakota game. Holloway had a setback with his wrist and Wrightsell suffered a finger injury in the days leading up to the season opener.

But the training staff, led by Clarke Holter, brought this backcourt duo back to full health and they came up big against the Red Storm. Most of Holloway's points came in the first half, as he was up to 15 at the break. Wrightsell, on the other hand, was pretty even, as he scored nine points in the first period and eight in the second.

This was Wrightsell's first regular-season game since he ruptured his Achilles in November 2024. The graduate has worked relentlessly to return to the court and he was able to play against Furman in the road exhibition win on Oct. 6.

Nevertheless, the hearts of Alabama fans skipped a beat on Saturday. After hitting a three-pointer early in the second half, Wrightsell limped off the court and went to the locker room with trainers.

It was completely unknown if he would return and what the extent of the injury was after such a long road to recovery. But Wrightsell returned with roughly nine minutes remaining in regulation and he helped the Crimson Tide seal the game.

In addition to Wrightsell, freshman guard Davion Hannah also sustained an injury during the game. With 12 minutes left in the first half, Hannah got blocked on a dunk attempt and went down hard around his tailbone. Oats went right up to him after play stopped and he limped off the court with Holter.

However, Alabama's training staff quickly got Hannah back to the bench and he even checked into the game with roughly 13 minutes left in the second half. Hannah only played a couple of minutes during the second half, but was on the bench smiling and pumped up throughout this instant classic in "The World's Most Famous Arena."

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