Nate Oats breaks down keys to beating Grand Canyon

The Alabama basketball team is set to take on Grand Canyon shortly, in a matchup of the West region’s 4-seed vs. the 12-seed. Nate Oats joined the Crimson Tide Sports Network before the game to break down some keys to the game.

Grand Canyon engineered an upset over 5-seed Saint Mary‘s in the opening round, setting up a showdown with the Crimson Tide. Oats is hopeful his team is locked in and taking things seriously tonight.

“They’ve got great athletes. I think we’ve got more skilled players,” Oats told the Crimson Tide Sports Network before the game, according to Mike Rodak of 247Sports. “We’ve just got to come out and play harder. Play more together, get the ball moving. I think we can get a lot of threes against this team. They collapse in the paint quickly. Make sure our guards are ready to go and ready to shoot the ball tonight.”

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Alabama advanced to the Round of 32 by knocking off Charleston 109-96 in the opening round. The Crimson Tide had absolutely no trouble scoring the ball, but like a handful of games this year also gave up far too much defensively.

But the Crimson Tide showed they can score with anyone in the country.

Guard Mark Sears scored a game-high 30 points in the opening-round win, while Latrell Wrightsell scored 17 and Aaron Estrada scored 13. All three will need to be on point tonight against the Lopes.

“I think our guys are pretty locked in,” Nate Oats said. “I feel like we’ve got a good mindset right now. I feel like the spirit is good. The attitudes are good. I anticipate us playing well again.”

Of course, playing better defense would certainly be welcome. Alabama has not always been the best defensively and when you let teams get hot shooting in the NCAA Tournament, things can go wrong.

Oats thinks his guys are close on the defensive end and it’s just a matter of remaining locked in throughout the entirety of games.

“When we guard, we’re as good as anybody in the country,” Nate Oats said. “I feel like we really guarded for 25, 30 minutes [against Charleston]. I told our guys we’ve got to do it for 40 tonight, because this is a good team. They’ve got high-major talent.”

Alabama and Grand Canyon are set to tip off at 7:10 p.m. ET with a broadcast on TBS.