Nate Oats addresses team's focus in loss to Oklahoma

NS_headshot_clearbackgroundby:Nick Schultz•01/28/23•

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Although Alabama got a win earlier this week, Nate Oats still saw things his team needed to improve on heading into Saturday’s game against Oklahoma. He hoped the Crimson Tide would learn from those problems that plagued them against Mississippi State with the SEC/Big 12 Challenge approaching.

Instead, Alabama fell to the Sooners 93-69 at the Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners had strong day on both ends of the floor while the Crimson Tide had no answer. Oats pointed to a few different factors, but it came down to one thing.

Even in a win, he wants his players to learn from mistakes.

“One, we’re on the road, so you didn’t have energy behind the crowd to get you into it,” Oats said. “But if you’re relying on crowd energy to get you in, you’re playing for the wrong reasons. Two, I think we got away with it a little bit last game.

“We were still able to sneak out a win [against Mississippi State] even when we didn’t come out ready to go, so trying to tell our guys mature teams learn from a win. We obviously weren’t mature enough to learn from a win. Hopefully, a loss, it’ll help us wake up a little bit.”

Nate Oats: The SEC/Big 12 Challenge has major implications for March Madness seeding

Oats again stressed the importance of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge when it comes time for the NCAA Tournament. The games have big-time implications, especially in a year when the Big 12 ranks No. 1 in efficiency, according to KenPom.

However, Oats remembers how it went when Alabama played Oklahoma in the challenge two years ago. There’s still a chance for the Crimson Tide to bounce back.

“I will say this. It wasn’t this bad, but when we did win the SEC two years ago, we came to Oklahoma [and] took a loss in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on the road,” Oats said. “Kind of got us refocused a little bit for SEC play. This is a big game because I think this has significance for postseason, seeding, all that stuff. But it doesn’t have an effect on [the] SEC standings, which is the only good thing to come out of this. Hopefully, we can get woke up with a loss out of conference.

“But no, it’s not good. We need the SEC to do well in this Big 12 Challenge. We obviously didn’t do our job on it. To me, these games are a big deal when it comes down to seeding in the NCAA Tournament. We didn’t do very well.”