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Nate Oats updates Grant Nelson’s status after exiting SEC Tournament semifinals
By Mark Kern
Published:
Nate Oats and Alabama fell to Florida, 104-82, in an SEC Tournament semifinal game on Saturday. Maybe the biggest news coming out of the game for Alabama wasn’t the result, but rather the health status of star forward Grant Nelson, who left the game with a knee injury.
While he was on the floor, the Crimson Tide were right there with the Gators, as they had a 42-41 lead with 3:40 remaining in the first half. Nelson had 9 points and 3 rebounds in the first half but was unable to return to the court in the second half.
After the game, Oats provided an injury update on Nelson, saying the team hopes they will have him available in Round 1 of the NCAA Tournament.
“It is a knee injury and I’m not quite sure what it is,” Oats said. “I don’t think they are thinking it is anything with an ACL. Hopefully we get him back for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Shoot, we were up one when he went out and got outscored 63-40 after that.”
What Nelson’s status is moving forward could be one of the biggest talking points when it comes to the start of the NCAA Tournament. He provides the Crimson Tide with a versatile scorer who can score from anywhere, and he creates mismatches for opponents.
Alabama is probably eliminated from being a No. 1 seed with the loss to Florida, but the Crimson Tide should be a top-3 seed on Sunday.
For now, the Crimson Tide are still hanging strong in the latest Final Four odds produced by DraftKings. Duke leads those odds at -140, but Alabama checks in 6th on the list at +330 after advancing to the national semifinals a year ago.
