Nate Oats explains why Alabama is struggling to win games

Alabama has been struggling as of late on the court. The Crimson Tide are currently 13-7 on the season, but are 5-6 in their last 11 games. Alabama head coach Nate Oats knows what his team needs to do to avoid more losses piling up in the future.

Oats believes that the key to Alabama turning things around is playing better on the defensive side of the ball. He also wants to see more leadership step up on the roster.

“Yeah, I’m trying to figure that out,” Oats said on why Alabama continues to pile up losses. “I think there’s an intensity and a sense of urgency, an attention to detail on the defensive end particularly. Our offense, we’re still – if you look at KenPom this morning- we’ve still got the tenth ranked offense in the country. The problem is our defense is I think 68th right now. Defensively, we just don’t have that sense of urgency every game.

“I’m obviously not doing a good enough job as head coach of motivating our guys to play at their best capabilities on both ends of the floor every time out. We’re trying to figure that out, I’m trying to get as much feedback from our guys as I can get. But yeah, there’s some maturity that comes with it. Where’s our leadership at to make sure everybody is ready to play? We’ve got to figure that out a little bit better. I think we’ve got some guys trying. We’ve just got to get a whole group of them that really want to play hard in every single game no matter who the opponent is.”

Oats, Alabama will need to turn around quickly to avoid losses against tough schedule

Alabama has picked up four ranked victories this season (Gonzaga, Houston, Tennessee, LSU). The Crimson Tide also fell just short in a good effort against the current top ranked team, Auburn. But some of Alabama’s losses have been bad ones.

Over Alabama’s previous six games, they have picked up four losses, which creates a lot of pressure for Oats and his team entering a tough upcoming schedule. Alabama faces No. 4 Baylor on Saturday, No. 1 Auburn on Tuesday, and No. 12 Kentucky next Saturday.

“Based on how we’ve been playing, we’ll probably play pretty good against Baylor,” Oats added. “They were No. 1 in the country a week or two ago, they’re one of the best teams in the country. Gonzaga was No. 1 in the country last week, we’ve beat Gonzaga already. We’ll probably play well against Baylor. Guys will get up for it. I hope we do, we’ve got a chance to beat them. But we’ve got to figure out how to play well against every team.”