Nate Oats Switches Up Approach After Alabama Loss to Georgia

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.  - Alabama men's basketball head coach Nate Oats has never shied away from being honest about how he coaches the Crimson Tide after a loss, with Oats often telling reporters how the Tide practiced harder following losses. On Tuesday night, the Georgia Bulldogs snapped Alabama's eight-game win streak in a 98-88 upset of the Crimson Tide, where Oats expressed his frustration at the lack of effort Alabama had in the loss.

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On Friday, as Oats previewed Alabama's regular-season finale against the Auburn Tigers in the Iron Bowl of Basketball, he mentioned a "different approach" that the Crimson Tide took in response to Tuesday's road loss to Georgia.

"We gave them Wednesday off," Oats said. "We wanted to make sure that they got the bodies right, minds right. We weren't going to come in [without that]. We took a little bit different approach. Usually, come in and do a full cleanup. Everything we did wrong.

"I did it a little different this time. We came in Thursday morning after our off day Wednesday, and decided to just show them clips of them doing well, what we need to do well moving forward. So we struggled to rebound, well, let's show they're more than capable of rebounding at a high level. Let's go all the way back to how good Taylor [Bol Bowen] was in that St John's game."

Bol Bowen has struggled since the November victory over then-No. 5 St. John's, and Oats acknowledged that, but now that he's healthy again, the Crimson Tide head coach expects more from the Florida State transfer. Alabama is as healthy as it can be despite three season-ending injuries to Keitenn Bristow, Davion Hannah, and Collins Onyejiaka. Oats is working to instill confidence in his team and show them that they can do what the Tide has struggled with.

"Let's show all the guys making tough rebounds," Oats said. "We've got to take care of the ball, show them making the right plays in the same settings where we turned it over. Coach [Brian] Adams on the defense, coach [Chris] Fleming and coach [Adam] Bauman on the offense, Preston [Murphy] has kind of taking over.

"We call it our possession game, which is rebounding, turnovers on both sides of the ball. Show them defensive playmaking at it, us making plays, turning people [over], because I did think that was a positive against Georgia. We did make defensive plays, and we're turning them over. We just had too many pick-six turnovers going the other way.

"So we tried to show them what we need to do to be better moving forward, and clips of them being elite at it over the course of the year. Practice Thursday was solid. I thought today was great. I thought they came in really with some pop. Looking like they had an off day, got back in at a good, solid day Thursday, and were really ready to go today. So I was really pleased with where their heads are at today."

No. 16 Alabama will face Auburn at home in Coleman Coliseum in the regular-season finale at 7:30 p.m. CT. If Alabama defeats Auburn, or if Arkansas loses to Missouri, Alabama will clinch the two-seed in next week's SEC tournament in Nashville, Tennessee.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.