Nate Oats considers why game vs. Missouri got chippy

Alabama and Nate Oats earned a hard-fought 93-75 win over Missouri Tuesday night but things got a little chippy in the first half.

Oats chalked it up to an SEC team being scrappy and needing a conference win. In the end, there’s not but respect between Oats and Tigers head coach Dennis Gates.

The Crimson Tide leader was asked why it got heated between the SEC foes.

“It’s a program with a lot of pride,” Oats said. “I mean, they were good last year. They came in 0-3, they’re probably better than 0-3. They’re fighting, scrapping and clawing … I’m sure there was an edge about them or that they needed a win but we’re trying to win and you can’t win the league if you don’t protect your own court, either.” 

The will to win can sometimes have tensions boil over on the court. The actual scuffle occurred when Oats pushed Missouri forward Aidan Shaw out of the huddle in the first half.

With 7:34 left in the first half and the Crimson Tide holding a 24-15 lead over the Tigers, Shaw and Alabama guard Aaron Estrada exchanged words near the UA bench, and Oats placed his right hand on Shaw’s chest and pushed him away from Estrada, who was fouled.

“Combination of us understanding we gotta protect our own court,” Oats said. “It’s a must win game for us if we’re going to try to win this league and they have a lot of pride over there and they’re weren’t trying to start 0-4. Other than that, there’s nothing there’s nothing between the programs like I actually really respect Dennis and think he does a great job and I don’t think any of our players have any past history … I just think it’s two teams playing hard.”

Oats also apologized in his opening statement to local reporters.

“Before I start talking about the game, I just want to address the situation at the under-8 media timeout, the scuffle that happened next to our bench,” Oats said. “I’ve known Coach (Dennis) Gates for a long time. I was a high school coach. He was one of the best recruiters in the country.  “I have all the respect in the world for the job he’s done as an assistant and a head coach before he got to Missouri, as a head coach here. He had one of the best first years in the SEC since I’ve been here in a long time. So it is no disrespect to him or his program. 

“I apologized to both Coach Gates and Aiden Shaw. Aiden seems like a great kid and it’s an unfortunate situation, but I apologized to both of them.”