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Nate Oats: ‘Disappointing’ to let Jeremiah Fears score late in blowout after slow start

Grant Grubbs Profile Pictureby:Grant Grubbs•01/05/25•

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Dec 29, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats reacts to a play against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits during the first half at Coleman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Will McLelland-Imagn Images

Alabama head coach Nate Oats wanted to see his team shut down Oklahoma‘s leading scorer, Jeremiah Fears, on Saturday. Through the first half, he got just that, with Fears only having one point at halftime.

Nonetheless, as Alabama’s lead continued to grow, Fears took advantage of the Crimson Tide’s comfort and scored 15 points in the second half. After Alabama’s 107-79 win, Oats weighed in on Fears’ scoring barrage in the second half.

“I thought most of our guys did pretty a job. I mean, he ended up with 16, which is a little disappointing, because … I think he had one point with about 10 minutes to go in the game when we’d been up 28, I think, at that point already,” Oats said. “So we get up 28, we’ve held him to one point for the first 30 minutes of the game, and then all of a sudden, we give up 15 in the last 10 minutes or so.

“So a little disappointing, but for the first 30 minutes, I thought we did a great job. Labaron [Philon] came ready to go. I thought he did a really good job. Some other guys got switched on to him in that first 30 minutes, did a great job.”

Fears is averaging 17.9 points per game, the seventh-most in the SEC. While he was ultimately able to come near that mark against Alabama, his field-goal percentage suffered. Fears is shooting 48.8% from the field this season but connected on just 5-of-his-15 (33.3%) shot attempts on Saturday.

Although Alabama ultimately was successful against Fears and the Sooners, Oats believes his team must do a better job of staying focused even when they have a big lead.

“But if you get up 28, we gotta be able to keep our focus and continue to get stops,” Oats said. “Jeremiah showed why he’s on a lot of NBA draft boards in the last 10 minutes of the game when he went and got some buckets. We’re just going to have to really try to get our guys stay focused, no matter what the score is.”

As Oats previously mentioned, Labaron Philon guarded Jeremiah Fears for most of the game, especially in the first half. Oats noted that Philon may have come into the game with extra motivation.

“I’m a huge fan of Labaron’s,” Oats said. “I think the fact that Fears was so high up on some of these draft boards, I think that motivated Labaron a little bit, too.”