Nate Oats critical of Alabama's defense in Oklahoma loss
Nate Oats was disappointed with his team following Alabama‘s 93-69 loss to Oklahoma on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide had been enjoying a phenomenal season, but when you have the target on your back, it’s tough to play your best night after night. Oats felt his team was slacking against the Sooners, and hopes they’ll learn from their mistakes moving forward.
“We’ve been — I think we were fifth in the country in defensive efficiency coming into the game. Wasn’t a typical showing by us,” started Oats. “Our efforts got to be better. … Didn’t follow the game-plan. Starting group obviously was not good to start the game, two games in a row now. But they made shots. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. … Our rankings going to drop obviously. … We were ranked second in the country. They stormed the floor after the game. Team is going to be ready, fans are going to be ready. Everyone’s going to be ready.
“Our guys haven’t be accustomed to being ranked second in the country this late in the year before. I don’t think you realize, we’re getting everybody’s a-game. Our defense was nowhere close to where it needed to be to compete in this game.”
Alas, Nate Oats’ program isn’t on the level of Nick Saban’s in Tuscaloosa, but perhaps the latter can help with some advice about getting to the top of the mountain and staying there.
Everyone wants a piece of Alabama, but the Crimson Tide will have to ensure they’re individually motivated for each game moving forward.
Nate Oats addresses team’s focus in loss to Oklahoma
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.”