Nate Oats defends Alabama fans after criticism from Jay Williams

The ACC/SEC Challenge debuted on Tuesday night, with one of the premier games being Alabama playing host to Clemson. While many think about the battles Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney have had over the years, the two have faced off in basketball quite a number of times. Coleman Coliseum played host but was not particularly impressive for ESPN’s Jay Williams.

“What’s the point of playing at home if it’s not going to feel like a home-court advantage?” Williams asked heading into the second half. “Like, this doesn’t feel like a home-court advantage at all for Alabama. The place is not packed. The fans don’t seem to be engaged. Seems to be more like a tennis match.”

Alabama fans had grown accustomed to seeing their team put up big point totals. In the first half against Clemson, the Crimson Tide only had 32 points on the board and were losing. The shooting was horrendous as well, going 4-18 from the three-point line and making just 27.8% of shots from the floor.

Nate Oats was honest about the crowd during his postgame press conference, saying Alabama did not give them much to cheer about. Clemson pulled away in the game late but he talked about the effort being “deflating” at times.

Having trouble on the defensive end and being out-rebounded has been a problem early in the season. It once again showed against a quality ACC opponent, leading to a frustrating loss for Alabama.

“At times, I’m sure it did,” Oats said on Williams’ tennis match comment. “They called the time out and the crowd was great at times. We got to give them something to cheer about, to be honest with you. Come out and go on a 13-0 run, people are going to get quiet. We need the crowd to cheer us on to some stops. Our players need to make some plays to get the crowd into it sometimes too… Hustle plays, blue-collar plays, toughness plays.

“When you give up multiple offensive rebounds on one possession, it’s deflating. It’s deflating to the coaching staff, it’s deflating to the crowd. Crowd gets a little upset with the lack of effort, as they should. We got to do a little bit better with those tough, effort plays that the crowd appreciates around here.”

Alabama is back home on Monday, facing off against Arkansas State before a tough trio of games. Purdue, Creighton, and Arizona will be the next three opponents on the schedule. However, all three will be away from Tuscaloosa.

The next major opponent to come to Coleman Coliseum will be Jan. 9, with South Carolina being the first home SEC game. Wanting to defend their regular season and tournament title, Oats will continue to encourage the crowd to show up in big moments.