The news release issued Nov. 5 wasn’t like most coming from the Alabama basketball program.

The subject line referenced a “medical procedure” for fifth-year senior Riley Norris but this wasn’t routine. This involved the heart. A cardiac ablation was performed on the forward who missed almost all of last season with a back injury.

The surgery is meant to remove heart tissue that is causing an abnormal heart beat, according to the Mayo Clinic. It’s a procedure familiar to Norris since he had the same one done in high school. He said the success rate is 95 percent.

“So, I was the 5 percent it came back,” Norris said. “It was scary because the second time you do it is more dangerous than the first time but we had a good team of physicians that worked on me.”

A little more than a month after the surgery, Norris made is 2018 debut playing eight minutes in the Dec. 4 loss to Georgia State. He didn’t play in the Dec. 9 win over Arizona but is feeling hopeful about things moving forward.

Alabama (6-3) faces Liberty (9-2) at 7 p.m. CT Tuesday in Huntsville’s Von Braun Center. It’s not far from Norris’ hometown of Albertville and there should be a large crown on hand to see the Tide’s now-annual trip to northern Alabama.

Norris, known for his active playing style, said it was hard to sit back and watch as doctors and the medical staff wanted to ease him back in to basketball activities.

“Then as soon as two weeks hit after the surgery,” Norris said, “I was released to do full activity and ever since then, I’ve felt great. It was a success.”

Sophomore guard John Petty said it was “terrifying” to hear the news of a teammate having heart troubles. He’s familiar with cases like one with Shareef O’Neal -- Shaq’s son -- who will miss his freshman season at UCLA after heart surgery.

“And a lot of stories of guys falling out from bad hearts and not knowing so it’s always good to get checked on,” Petty said. “But when you hear about having heart problems, that’s scary, scary news.”

Alabama coach Avery Johnson said players go through an extensive preseason physical to detect these kinds of issues.

The longtime NBA players said his “antennae went up” when he heard Norris’ issue was with his heart. He went right to the hospital to see Norris after the procedure.

“It was a long surgery and I’m still concerned,” Johnson said, “because you’re not dealing with a finger. You’re dealing with a kid and you want him to live a long, normal life and hopefully it will happen.”

Norris has a positive outlook on the whole situation moving forward. After the multiple health problems he’s had since arriving in Tuscaloosa in 2014, Norris wasn’t worried about this sidelining him long term.

“I’ve been through it the first time and I knew the risk,” Norris said, “but I didn’t think it was going to end my career.”