St. Mary's vs Alabama basketball Injury report and predictions, March 23: Latest on Houston Mallette and more
St. Mary's vs Alabama is one of the prime-time games for the second day of the second round of March Madness. The No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide will take on the No. 7 St. Mary's Gaels on Sunday at 6:10 p.m. ET.
While many teams in the tournament are already dealing with significant injuries, that is not the case in this matchup. The Gaels are completely healthy and the Crimson Tide only have a few players on their injury report. As a result, injuries should not factor into the result.
St. Mary's vs Alabama basketball injury report
Houston Mallette, Alabama
Houston Mallette transferred to Alabama this season with the hopes of having a bigger impact on a more high-profile team than Pepperdine. However, his season has been severely impacted by injuries. After only six games, Mallette went down with a knee injury in early January.
The young guard has been unable to return to the lineup since. He is listed as questionable on the injury report for St. Mary's vs Alabama.
Latrell Wrightsell, Alabama
In his second season at Alabama, Latrell Wrightsell emerged as an effective scorer, averaging 11.5 points per game in his first eight games. However, in that eighth game in late November, Wrightsell went down with an Achilles injury. It was later revealed that the injury would keep him out for the rest of the season. So, he will not be available for St. Mary's vs Alabama.
Grant Nelson, who came in late against Robert Morris to eventually win the game for Alabama, has been cleared to play against the Gaels.
St. Mary's vs Alabama basketball prediction
Coming into this matchup, Alabama did not have the dominant result they expected against No. 15 Robert Morris, only defeating them 90-81. Similarly, St. Mary's only defeated No. 10 Vanderbilt by a narrow margin of 59-56. Both teams were big favorites in the first round, but neither had an exceptional performance.
As a result, both teams will be looking to get on the right track in the second round. Alabama enters the game as a -240 favorite and St. Mary's as a +200 underdog. The spread is set for 5.5 points, meaning the sportsbooks are expecting a tight matchup.
If St. Mary's had a dominant performance in the first round, an upset would have been on the cards considering Alabama's weak first-round performance. However, since neither team performed particularly well, we are leaning towards an Alabama win. However, neither team looks poised to make a deep run in the tournament.
Prediction: Alabama 75, St. Mary's 71