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Nate Oats rips Alabama's effort vs. Ole Miss: 'We didn't deserve to win'

On3 imageby: Dan Morrison01/15/25dan_morrison96
Nate Oats, Alabama
Nate Oats, Alabama - © Will McLelland-Imagn Images

The Alabama Crimson Tide dropped their first SEC game of the season on Tuesday night, losing to Ole Miss at home. It was a game that head coach Nate Oats would admit the Crimson Tide didn’t deserve to win.

Following the game, Oats shared the message with media members that he shared with his own team. Only one team deserved to win on Tuesday night, and it wasn’t Alabama.

“I told our guys in the locker room after the game, we have to deserve to win,” Nate Oats said. “And we didn’t deserve to win this game. Ole Miss came in and they deserved to win this game. You have to deserve it with your preparation going into the game and then you’ve got to deserve it with your effort once you’re in the game and we — the team that deserved to win tonight won the game tonight.”

Alabama finished the game shooting 42.6 percent from the field. It’s not a terrible mark but the bigger issue ended up being their turnovers. The Crimson Tide turned the ball over 21 times while only forcing seven turnovers, making it difficult to win any game.

Despite those issues, Alabama did enter halftime with a 36-32 point lead. By the time the game was over, the Crimson Tide had lost by 10 points. It was an effort that Nate Oats was very clearly frustrated about after the game when he called out the team’s efforts.

“It’s disgusting, to be honest with you. With the amount of fifth-year seniors we have and the leadership that should be shown on this team, to have guys come in ready to play, it’s – look, it starts with me, because I’m supposed to be the one motivating these guys, and I obviously didn’t motivate them very well to make sure they’re ready. So, I’m gonna have to look in the mirror and see what I did and didn’t do,” Oats said.

“I’m gonna have to have a good talk with some of these seniors that are supposed to be on leaders and figure out why we weren’t ready to go tonight because it’s very disappointing. It’s disgusting and it’s frustrating.”

Next up for Alabama is a game on the road against the Kentucky Wildcats. It’s going to be a challenging game that the Crimson Tide will need to be ready for or risk losing a second game in a row.