Latrell Wrightsell Sr. made something clear. His son had to take the open shot.

From his second to eighth-grade years, Latrell Wrightsell Jr. heard this message again and again from his father. If his son passed up an open shot, Wrightsell Sr. would take him out of the game and send his son to the end of the bench. He’d find a moment to join his son and then deliver, as Wrightsell Jr. put it, a “TED Talk.” If Wrightsell Jr. passed up another shot, his dad would bench him for the rest of the game.

Three years later, Wrightsell got that same message at an Alabama basketball practice. In the recruitment process, Nate Oats pitched UA as a program that could raise Wrightsell’s 3-point percentage and each shot he didn’t take equated to a turnover. Didn’t believe him? Wrightsell was presented with numbers. Still. It took a while to learn.

Wrightsell chuckled when asked how often Oats had yelled at him for not taking 3s. “Kind of a lot. One game, I didn’t take a shot. He looked at me, he laughed and was like ‘Alright, you’re coming out.’” ‘

Wrightsell’s shooting has been imperative to four-seed Alabama’s success. Stating that the Tide’s 3-point rate, and by extension its best 3-point shooter (44.3%), is crucial to its success in March Madness is obvious. But the Tide’s jump shots make up for defensive mistakes; the 3-point blitzes create game-changing runs. If the Tide will score its way through the NCAA Tournament, it’ll need to keep doing it from behind the arc.

Ahead of the Sweet 16 against North Carolina (Los Angeles, Thursday 9 p.m. CT), Wrightsell’s status is in doubt. After missing four games with a head injury, Wrightsell was slow to get up after a block attempt, crashing near the Tide sideline. Wrightsell’s dad was on two March Madness teams with Creighton. But he had to climb into the stands in Spokane, Washington and grumble, “He’s out.”

Wrightsell was not seen in the 15-minute media viewing period. Oats said he is “day-to-day” and will be evaluated tomorrow before tipoff.

Wrightsell swished five of his six attempts in the first round against 13-seed Charleston. His third jumper came during the possession after Rylan Griffen got on the board, Alabama extending to a 7-0 run in 90 seconds. Griffen, in his second year in Oats’ system, knows the drill. Layups and 3-pointers.

When a reporter showed Oats the Tide’s shot chart against Texas A&M last month, Oats described the scatter plot as perfect. Still, the light always tuned to green is an adjustment.

“They take you out if you don’t. That’s how you learn,” Griffen said of adjusting to Oats’ high-octane system.

During Alabama’s game against Arizona on Dec. 20 — a team the Tide could potentially rematch on Saturday in the Elite Eight — Griffen passed when he had space behind the arc and Oats was quick to find a replacement on the bench. (Oats usually has a quick trigger on unattempted 3-pointers and bad defensive rotations, which have occurred less through two NCAA Tournament wins).

Alabama players take hundreds of 3s after practice. Freshman Sam Walters estimated around 400 to 500 in the day and another couple hundred at night. In drills, Alabama shooters attempt 10 to 12, with players celebrating and remembering hot outings.

It took Aaron Estrada, an efficiency machine that may need to step up his offensive production against the high-powered Tar Heels, a couple of months in the system to finally accept the numbers they were presenting him. One of his favorite shots was a sin in Tuscaloosa.

“We’re not really allowed to shoot midranges so pretty much every practice we have is practicing the 3-point shot. All we do is shoot at the rims and 3-point shot,” Kai Spears said.

Alabama’s 21 3s across two games was the most in a back-to-back stretch since late Feb. and early March. The Tide didn’t play perfect games against Charleston or Grand Canyon, but its 3s were a differentiator in the first game and they were important momentum builders in the second, mostly from Mark Sears’ left hand.

In games where Alabama shoots at least 40% from 3-point range, it’s 15-2. It was 8-9 in all other matchups. Wrightsell is one of three Alabama players to shoot better than 40 percent from deep.

Nick Pringle sounded confident in Alabama’s locker room that Wrightsell would be back. He told AL.com before the Round of 32 that his prior head injury didn’t bother his shooting. If he does return, he’ll need the green light.

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].