TUSCALOOSA — From bad to worse, the hits keep coming for Alabama’s basketball program. It’s not just suspensions this time.

Add a root canal, rolled ankle and a “blow to the head” to the troubles for the already-shorthanded Crimson Tide starting lineup entering a 12:30 p.m., game with red-hot Tennessee.

The suspensions of leading scorers Tony Mitchell and JaMychal Green remain indefinite, coach Anthony Grant said. But that’s just part of the concern at this point for a team fighting for its postseason destination following two straight losses.

Neither Nick Jacobs, nor Andrew Steele practiced Thursday. Trevor Releford was injured late in that workout and was expected to miss Friday’s.

Jacobs needed a midweek root canal after an infection developed in an injury suffered before playing Florida on Tuesday. Grant said he took a blow to the mouth that required dental work before losing 61-52 Tuesday night.

The latest setback left Grant “unsure about his availability” against Tennessee (14-12, 6-5 SEC). The Vols have won their last four including a road game at then-No. 7 Florida last

Saturday.

Steele turned an ankle diving into the crowd late in the Florida loss, but said he was feeling better Friday afternoon.

For Releford, who limped through most of Tuesday’s game, a blow to the head ended his Thursday practice. Like the others, Grant said he’d better understand who’ll be available after the Friday afternoon practice.

As for Mitchell and Green, there was nothing new to report, though Mitchell broke his silence late Wednesday night on with his Twitter account.

“to all my bama fans tmitch is goin nowhere #bamatilidie,” he posted just before

midnight.

Grant said he hadn’t spoken to either recently.

“We’ll meet here probably sometime this week,” Grant said Friday afternoon.

Mitchell’s suspension will span four games after today while Green’s will stand at three. Releford and Steele also served one-game penalties for last Saturday’s loss at LSU for what Grant called different reasons than Green and Mitchell.

Steele, a fourth-year junior, said Grant handled the situation “in a way that a father would.”

“We understood the mistake we made and we understood we had to pay for it,” Steele said. “I can’t blame coach for doing it. I’d rather have someone that would make sure he steered us in the right direction as opposed to giving us a false sense of security about doing things that could possibly be wrong that could hurt us later on in life.”

The here and now is the top concern at this point.

And, for at least one more game, the Tide (16-9, 5-6) could send inexperienced lineups to the floor with quite a bit riding on the

outcome.

If Jacobs can’t play after starting the previous six games, Alabama’s two foreign-born 7-footers could see their minutes ratcheted up once again.

Carl Engstrom, the Swedish sophomore playing his third year of organized basketball, played more in the past three games (40 minutes) than he did in the previous 14

combined.

Senegal’s Moussa Gueye is still rounding into form after two knee injuries kept him from playing all of last season and 12 games this year. He had four points and four rebounds playing a season-high 15 minutes against Florida

Grant said he’s seeing improvements from both as their collective role expanded without Green and Mitchell on the floor. There are other options, too.

“We can try to use our quickness,” Steele said.

“They have a size advantage, but we feel like we have a quickness advantage. If we can

pull them away from the goal or outrun

them, that’ll play into our hands. If the game slows down, obviously that’ll favor them. So we’ll try to get the tempo going as much as we can.”