Nate Oats says Nimari Burnett absence 'definitely hurt' defense

Alabama‘s impressive, upset-filled four-game win streak came to an end on Saturday when they were defeated by Gonzaga 100-90. The Crimson Tide were without starting sophomore guard Nimari Burnett in their loss, and head coach Nate Oats discussed the impact of not having him out there.

“Yeah it definitely hurt, I mean he’s got length and all those floaters those guys were making in the lane, he’s got a 6’10 wingspan that challenges those a lot better than what we were able to do with what he had in there,” Oats said.

This is Burnett’s second straight game out of the lineup for Alabama, as he suffered an injury to his wrist that required surgery following their upset victory over Houston. He’s excepted to miss 6-8 weeks due to the injury according to Oats, which means the Crimson Tide will be missing one of their better perimeter defenders for some time, who’s fresh off of holding Houston’s leading scorer Marcus Sasser to 18.2% from the field in the last contest he played in.

“Nimari did a great job on Sasser, definitely hurt us not having him, but we’re not gonna have him for a while so we gotta figure it out without him right now,” Oats said.

Burnett’s presence was surely missed on Saturday, as Gonzaga ended the night shooting 57.1% from the field and 41.2% from the three-point line with six players score in double figures.

Burnett transferred to Alabama from Texas Tech, playing in 12 games in his freshman season for the Red Raiders before taking his talents to Tuscaloosa. This is his first season playing minutes for the Crimson Tide, missing the 2021-2022 season with a torn ACL. He’s appeared in nine games this season for Alabama, all starts, averaging eight points and 2.3 assists for the Crimson Tide while also providing valuable perimeter defense for the team.

Burnett is only a few weeks into his recovery from his wrist surgery, but the Crimson Tide are hoping to have him back as soon as possible, as their conference schedule is right around the corner. The Crimson Tide will take on Jackson State in their next game on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. ET airing on SEC Network, but then they head straight into their SEC schedule, facing No. 17 Mississippi State on the road to kickoff 18 inter-conferences matchups.