Alabama’s young guards step up in the absence of Latrell Wrightsell

Life without Latrell Wrightsell Jr. won’t always be so easy, but Alabama basketball has reason to believe it will continue to roll without its veteran sharpshooter. The No. 10 Crimson Tide cruised to a 94-79 win at No. 20 North Carolina on Wednesday night, securing arguably their most impressive win of the season.

No Wrightsell, no problem – at least as long as Alabama’s young guards continue to perform like this.

Freshman Labaron Philon and sophomore Aden Holloway each scored 15 points, helping the Tide fill the void of Wrightsell, who tore his Achilles tendon last week.

Philon, who signed with Alabama as the No. 40 player in this year’s class, no longer looks like a first-year player. He scored his 15 points on 7 of 12 shooting and was accompanied by four rebounds and four assists. Philon also had three steals, including takeaways on consecutive UNC possessions, helping Alabama extend its lead to 52-38 early in the second half.

The Mobile, Alabama native has risen to the challenge in his two true road games this season, posting a combined 33 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, three steals and a block in trips to Purdue and UNC.

“He’s a competitor,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said after the win over North Carolina. “He trained really hard. You have to deserve to play well and he deserves to play well. He puts it into practice every day. He’s been bringing it with him since he stepped onto the court in June.

“He has the ultimate confidence, but you can’t just give a kid confidence – you have to earn that confidence. You earn it by playing hard in practice and working on your game. I think he’s earned the confidence, he’s earned the playing time and he’s earned the right to play well. And he comes into these games with no fear at all, expresses his ability on both ends of the floor and has played really well for us in big games.”

Holloway capped his career with five 3-pointers against UNC, hitting 5 of 9 shots from long range. The Auburn transfer made four of those deep balls before halftime, helping the Tide take a 43-34 lead into halftime.

After struggling and falling to 8 of 19 (42.1%) from three games early in the season, Holloway has gone 8 of 19 (42.1%) in his last two games against UNC and Oregon. That shot will be crucial in replacing Wrightsell, who shot a team-best 42.2% from distance.

“His shooting was unbelievable,” Oats said of Holloway. “I don’t want to say that’s what we expected – to go 5 out of 9 in every game, but we’ve seen him shoot like that in training for a long time. So we know what he’s capable of shooting the ball.”

There is still room for improvement with both young guards.

Philon was 0-for-4 from distance against UNC, while Holloway recorded a team-high five turnovers. Still, Wednesday night offered plenty of optimism for two of the Tide’s most promising talents.

Alabama (7-2) has 10 days off before returning to the field for its next game against Creighton (6-3) on December 14 at 7:30 p.m. CT at Coleman Coliseum. That’s plenty of time for Holloway and Philon to build on their recent upturn in form.