Nate Oats details how early-season games have prepared Alabama for SEC play

Alabama just got done playing a brutal non-conference schedule where, in the end, the Tide came out on top more often than not. However, what stands before them next is the grind of league play with their SEC schedule set to open tonight at No. 21 Mississippi State.

If nothing else, Oats believes his team’s first 12 games have prepared them as well as any games could have to start the season. He said during his preview for the Bulldogs that their non-conference schedule opened their eyes to some of their weaknesses early so that they could get them cleaned up ahead of their SEC campaign.

“I think it has exposed some weaknesses we’ve had. Obviously our turnovers is one of them. Our post-defense with (Drew) Timme is one of them. Memphis got us in transition a little bit,” said Oats. “We’ve gotten different areas that have been exposed that we’ve had to work on. And, hopefully, we’ve improved at all those and we’ll be much better come SEC play.”

Even with those weaknesses, Alabama stands at 10-2 on the year. Their pair of losses look as good as any two in the country with them coming to UConn and Gonzaga. Wins over other top teams like Michigan State, Memphis, North Carolina, and Houston have minimized them as well.

As the Tide batten down the hatches for this second part of their season, Oats says his young team is more confident now than had they not played as difficult of a schedule. He believes the ‘high-level basketball‘ they’ve experienced already has taught them a lot already this year. Now it’s on them to put those lessons into practice whenever teams push them in league play.

“I think it also puts guys in environments where they’ve had some tough games. We’re playing a lot of freshmen, four freshmen, some newcomers on top of the freshman. So they’ve been in tough environments, tough games,” Oats said. “So if we get down against Mississippi State on the road? We’ve been down…(We’ve) proved we can come back and win. I think it’ll help guy’s confidence knowing that we’re able to play with anybody in the country, no matter if we get up or down.”

“We’ve figured out ways to win tough games. We’ve also lost a couple that we’ve learned from too. I’d much rather be in the place we’re in where we’re battle tested,” Oats said. “Hopefully we’re not losing early because we’ve not been exposed to high-level basketball. We’ve been exposed to plenty of high level basketball in the non-conference.”

We’ll see just how battle-tested the Tide are when they take the floor tonight in Starkville. If what we’ve seen from them over the first part of the year comes through again, though, Oats and his team will feel good about their chances of opening their SEC year at 1-0.