Nate Oats 'disgusted' with second half defense vs. Vanderbilt

No. 4 Alabama knocked off Vanderbilt 103-87 on Tuesday night, securing a second straight win and the program’s 10th in the last 11 outings. Still, for coach Nate Oats there was a real downer in the game.

The Crimson Tide surrendered a whopping 56 points to the Commodores in the second half, keeping the game far closer than it should have been.

“I was disgusted with the second-half defense, to be honest with you,” Nate Oats said after the game. “But I thought we came out of the game with a way better attitude, playing hard.”

The Alabama coach was happy enough with the opening frame for his team, when the Crimson Tide opened up a 48-31 advantage. However, the Commodores won the second half.

Nate Oats was not pleased with his team’s effort, particularly at the defensive end of the floor. He handed out a grade after the fact.

“A ‘C’ since I’m a teacher,” Oats said. “You give it like ‘A-‘ in the first half, and then they failed the second half, so what do you average out a failing grade and an ‘A-‘ and you come up with a ‘C,’ I guess,” Oats said. “First semester, second semester… we didn’t really give a final exam. First quarter, second quarter, whatever you want.”

However you slice it, Alabama wasn’t as good as it could have been. And while that might not matter on a random Tuesday night in SEC play, you can bet it’ll become a factor in the postseason.

It takes near-perfection to go on a late-season championship run.

Alabama is certainly capable. Tuesday night wasn’t it, though.

Nate Oats broke down the points-per-possession figures to bring home his point about the team’s lackluster defense in the second 20 minutes.

“I think we held them to a 0.82 in the first half, and then it jumped up to a 1.3 in the second half,” he said. “So 0.82 against a team like this, pretty good. So first 20 minutes I thought was great. Then I think it was a 1.3 in the second half, and that’s terrible.”

Nate Oats and Alabama will return to action on Saturday against LSU, with a game that tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.