Alabama basketball key big man leaves NCAA Tournament game with injury after hard fall

Although Alabama basketball was concerned about Grant Nelson before Friday’s game, they are now concerned about Jarin Stevenson.

The latter took a hard fall and was favoring his left wrist, according to Charlie Potter of On3 Sports on X (formerly Twitter). He also described that Stevenson immediately went to the locker room.

The sophomore forward was a crucial part of the depth. While his statistics don’t paint the whole story, it is the little things. The physicality, hustle, and shooting help balance out the Alabama basketball program.

With guys like Mark Sears and Grant Nelson, they get the majority of the attention. However, guys like Stevenson are the glue guys. They are the ones who will put a stamp on the game, without it showing up in the stat sheet.

Either way, the Crimson Tide are up against 40-36 at halftime against Robert Morris. There hasn’t been an injury update as of writing this story.

Alabama basketball will miss Jarin Stevenson in the NCAA tournament

The first round of the tournament is usually the testing ground for the elite teams. However, the beauty of the NCAA tournament is that there is a ton of unpredictability.

For instance, Drake defeated Missouri in an upset, along with McNeese State. While those were 11-6 and 12-5 upsets, there hasn’t been a 15-2 upset yet.

While Stevenson isn’t the star that Sears or Nelson is, he is a key part of their scheme. He is an effective roller to the rim, as well as potential to be a deadeye from beyond the arc.

A team like Robert Morris can try their best to exploit the weakness. After all, the Crimson Tide are an offensively savvy team, but has concerns about their defense.

That is part of why Alabama basketball is on upset watch during the NCAA tournament. No matter what, this shouldn’t be something that head coach Nate Oats should be too concerned about.

If they advance, that is when Stevenson’s injury concerns will be brought up.