The Alabama basketball team takes on No. 1 seed North Carolina in a tough Sweet 16 clash on Thursday evening. The biggest question for Nate Oats' team has been the status of Latrell Wrightsell Jr. He suffered a head injury during the Round of 32 victory over Grand Canyon, and his status entering the game was listed as day-to-day.

However, the latest update suggests that he won't be available for the game, per The Next Round. He wasn't seen entering the arena despite various updates over the past few days.

‘No Latrell Wrightsell on entrance with team…parents tell a source he is out tonight.'

During warmups, the official status for Wrightsell came out, and he is not suiting up, per Nick Kelly of The Tuscaloosa News:

‘Alabama G Latrell Wrightsell is out for the UNC game in Sweet 16 with a head injury, per a UA spokesperson'

Wrightsell had just two points in 11 minutes against Grand Canyon and was unable to come back into the game. In the opening round against Charleston, Wrightsell had 17 points with four rebounds and he had a 20-point performance against Arkansas on March 9, so he is an important part of this Crimson Tide team.

Nick Pringle, who had questions of his own before he arrived in Spokane for March Madness, added this on Wrigthsell's status on Wednesday, per Rocco Miller:

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‘Alabama's Nick Pringle on Latrell Wrightsell Jr being potentially unavailable: “I personally think he will be fine.”‘ So, it is not good that Wrightsell is unable to suit up for the Crimson Tide against the Tar Heels on Thursday.

Alabama has defeated Charleston and Grand Canyon to enter the Sweet 16 against a tough Tar Heels team, and being without Wrightsell is not going to help their case one bit. North Carolina has defeated 16-seed Wagner by 28 and then 9-seed Michigan State by 16 to get to the Sweet 16, so they have had no issues whatsoever in March Madness.

The Alabama basketball team was the top overall seed last season but fell to San Diego State in the Sweet 16 round, although the Aztecs ended up making the national title game before losing to UConn. This time around, Alabama will have a difficult time playing without Wrightsell and finding a way to stop the RJ Davis-Armando Bacot duo for North Carolina.