Alabama assistant Antoine Pettway shares powerful pregame message with Crimson Tide

Alabama has firmly cemented itself as one of the best teams in college basketball this season and clinched an SEC Tournament championship appearance as a result. Now, the Crimson Tide have to go take care of business — and that was part of Antoine Pettway’s message before the game.

Pettway, who’s in his sixth season as an assistant coach with his alma mater, delivered a powerful speech before tip-off of Sunday’s big matchup with Texas A&M at Bridgestone Arena. It’s been an interesting year for the Crimson Tide away from the court, as well, but Pettway credited the team for sticking together through it all.

ESPN caught the speech and showed it before tip-off. The broadcast didn’t show the very beginning of it, but the message was still clear.

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“… [We’ve] been through what we’ve been through as a family,” Pettway said. “That’s OK, because we’re built different because of it. We’re built different. It never got too heavy for nobody because we always had each other’s back.”

After firing up the team, Pettway had one final message before a call-and-response chant started in the huddle.

“Go out there and have fun today, and go get what’s yours,” Pettway said. Then, he led a chant of, “We all we got, we all we need.”

Nate Oats reacts to Alabama clinching spot in SEC Tournament Finals

Alabama took down Missouri 72-61 in the SEC Tournament semifinals and clinched a spot in the championship game against Texas A&M or Vanderbilt. Head coach Nate Oats was thrilled for his team’s hard fought victory over the Tigers and immediately switched focus on the short turnaround.

Guys like Brandon Miller, Noah Clowney and Charles Bediako stepped up. The trio was the biggest reason for an Alabama win after the Crimson Tide did not relinquish the halftime lead.

Oats spoke about his team’s effort following the team’s second trip to the finals in three years.

“Yeah, I mean, they’re a really mature group of freshmen, you know,” Oats said postgame on ESPN. “(Noah) Clowney like he is just a mature, 25-year old, acts like a pro, carries himself like a pro. Brandon, Jaden Bradley … same way so they may be young and may be freshmen, they don’t act like that. They’ve got enough minutes under their belt. I don’t really consider them freshmen anymore. 

“We can take care of business tomorrow and we’re gonna be a number one seed, maybe the number one overall seed.”