Nate Oats expresses frustration over turnovers, calls out team

Alabama basketball won their second game in a row Saturday by defeating the Arkansas Razorbacks 68-67 at Coleman Coliseum. Despite this, head coach Nate Oats had some choice words for him team following their 24 turnover performance.

“I mean, our guys need to come and play with some more confidence,” Oats said of his team’s performance against the Razorbacks. “Some of them are just playing scared almost, which I get, like we want our guys playing aggressive, attack downhill, zone, we’re just careless.”

Oats called out his leading scorer Jaden Shackelford in particular for his five turnovers. Add JD Davison‘s six and Oats’ backcourt had 11 combined turnovers by themselves. Noah Gurley had four, Jahvon Quinerly had five and Charles Bediako and Darius Miles combined for four as well.

“Our two point guards had six and five each. Shackelford had five himself and he’s got to do a better job with that … there’s too many guys turning the ball over that we’re not asking to be primary playmakers. Like there’s just no reason for that,” Oats said.

If one thing went the way Oats drew it up, besides the win, was the aggressiveness the Crimson Tide played with.

“They took a lot of charges they play hard to get deflections, but this could have been 15 [turnovers], it would have been a whole different game, but you know, 24 is way too many for high level, skilled basketball players to have,” Oats said.

Aside from the 24 turnovers, it wasn’t the best scoring night for the Alabama stars on Saturday, either. Shackelford and Davison combined for a team-high 21 points and were the only two to score in double figures on the night on the Crimson Tide’s side of things.

Luckily for Alabama, Arkansas wasn’t relying on of the SEC’s most prolific scorers in JD Notae, who finished with 12 points compared to his 18.8. average. He also had four steals. Instead, Jaylin Williams took over in his place and dropped 22 points and 10 rebounds. Stanley Umude also had a productive night with 19 points and nine boards of his own.

Alabama will look to start an official winning streak as the Mississippi State Bulldogs head to Coleman Coliseum this Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET before heading to Lexington to take on the No. 5 Kentucky Wildcats. The game against Missippi State will be made available to watch live on ESPN2 and the ESPN app.