Nate Oats reveals how Alabama's defense improved throughout NCAA Tournament
Coming into the NCAA Tournament, Nate Oats knew that the Alabama Crimson Tide needed to improve on the defensive end to make a deep run in March, and that’s exactly what happened. Now, the Crimson Tide are looking forward, to a matchup with UConn in the Final Four.
Ahead of Alabama’s Final Four matchup, Oats appeared on College GameDay, where he broke down how the Crimson Tide’s defense has improved during the NCAA Tournament.
“I think we’ve shown that we’re capable of it,” Nate Oats said. “We had stretches during games but we just couldn’t consistently put 40 minutes of it together.”
“You know, that [North] Carolina game, in the second half, we held them to .89 [points per possession]. You know the two years we had a top defense in the country, we were .92 and .93 [PPP]. So, our defense for that 20 minutes against Carolina in the second half was better than the two defenses we had that were third in the country. So, we did that for a full 20 and the first 20 of that game wasn’t bad, either.”
The game against North Carolina came during the Sweet 16 round and the Crimson Tide went into halftime trailing. However, after holding the Tar Heels to just 33 second-half points, the Crimson Tide were able to come from behind to march forward in the tournament.
This season, Alabama had one of the worst defenses in the country statistically. The Crimson Tide are 346th in the country in scoring defense, giving up 81.1 points per game. However, in the NCAA Tournament, Alabama is getting key stops and has been playing defense well enough that the Crimson Tide’s excellent offense is able to thrive.
The biggest difference from earlier in the season to now, according to Nate Oats, is the team’s consistency and the urgency that Alabama is playing with.
“I just think there’s been more consistency. There’s a sense of urgency,” Oats said. “If we lose, our season is done and they’re playing with a lot better sense of urgency for a full 40 minutes.”
Now, Alabama is in the Final Four for the first time in program history. There, the Crimson Tide will play UConn, the defending national champion. Going into the game, UConn is an 11.5-point favorite and hasn’t won a game in the NCAA Tournament by less than 17 points.