Will Nelson Be Ready for Purdue, Eady?

Murderer's Row Amen Corner. Call it what you want, but the toughest stretch of Alabama's non-conference basketball schedule starts Saturday in Toronto. Bama plays, in order, three of the top five NET teams in Purdue, Creighton and Arizona.

And the 6-2 unranked Crimson Tide could be without a key starter in forward Grant Nelson.

Nelson has made an big difference for Alabama and Nate Oats since transferring   from North Dakota State during the offseason. He has started all eight games Bama has played. Nelson is averaging 14.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. At 6-11, he also leads Alabama with 15 blocked shots.

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"He hasn’t practiced yet, but we’re going to try [Friday] and see how it goes," Oats said. "It’s not an injury that should hold him out longer than a week or two. If he can’t go Saturday, I’m very confident he’ll be able to play the following week. But he hasn’t practiced yet."

"We've had a good couple of days of practice," Oats noted. "It's going to be something a little different than facing anybody else we've faced all year. Zach Edey presents real problems. And he's big. He's pretty much impossible to guard one-on-one."

Eady, the Boilermakers' All-American center, is listed at 7-4, 300 and averages 23.7 points and 11.2 rebounds. Who will guard him? Or try? Nelson is frankly not likelly to play. Mo Wague has acquitted himself well in two recent starts, but more help will be needed. There is good news on that front.

Veteran center Nick Pringle will be back for this game after serving a one-game  suspension, Oats confirmed. Pringle can foul with the best of them and that may be helpful Saturday when the game tips off at 12:30 p.m. CT. You can hear it on Tide 100.9, 95.3 The Bear and AM 1230 WTBC. Tide will have our own pregame show hosted by myself at 10:30, and that show is brought to you by Pritchett-Moore Insurance.