Alabama basketball 5-star freshman forward Derrion Reid has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury. On Friday, head coach Nate Oats updated the status of Reid ahead of Saturday night's matchup in Tuscaloosa with LSU.
Unfortunately for Reid and the Crimson Tide, his injury is taking longer to fully heal than was originally anticipated. Oats had said earlier in the week after listing Reid as questionable for Tuesday's matchup with Vanderbilt that he anticipated Reid would return on Saturday. That no longer seems to be the case:
“He’s still not full-go in practice,” Oats said. “It’s one of those deals where we thought he’d be back a little quicker, but as the injury goes on, we’re not gonna push it to where he’s not out. So I don’t know."
Quote is courtesy of On3's Charlie Potter.
Oats went on to say that he expects Reid to be listed as questionable when Friday night's availability report is released.
If Reid is unable to go, it will be his fourth straight missed game and fifth overall this season. He has not played since the Crimson Tide went to College Station and knocked off Texas A&M on January 11th.
The injury Reid is dealing with hasn't been fully confirmed but is thought to be a flare-up of the ankle injury that caused him to miss Alabama's game with South Dakota State earlier in the season.
Reid is averaging 8.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game this season on an average of 17.6 minutes. Reid has flashed the potential that made him a 5-star recruit, but he has struggled with his shotmaking from distance, only connecting on 28% of his threes this year.
Without Reid, Alabama would continue being down to nine available scholarship players.