Nate Oats gives interesting practice update after Mississippi State loss

Alabama basketball head coach Nate Oats is frustrated with his team, and rightfully so after dropping three-straight games against conference opponents.

After the AP Top 25 was released without Alabama on the ticket, there’s no better time than now for the Crimson Tide to turn their season around and prove why they were a preseason top-10 team.

“I thought there was a sense of urgency from some of the guys in practice today that I hadn’t quite seen in a while,” Oats said on his radio show. “I liked what I saw.”

Alabama is currently on their longest losing skid of the season after jumping out to an 11-3 start to the 2021-22 season. Losses to Missouri, Auburn and Mississippi State, which were all decided by six, four and two points, respectively, have plagued the team over the past 10 days.

Something Oats has criticized his team for lately is their lack of offensive consistency despite averaging 79.7 points per game through their losing streak. To Oats, creating better offensive efficiency starts with junior guard Jahvon Quinerly, who is the team’s leading passer and second-leading scorer behind Jaden Shackelford.

“Quinerly shot it really well in practice today. I thought he had one of his best practices he’s had all year,” Oats said. “Hopefully that translates into tomorrow, another great practice, let’s get him going in the game.”

It wasn’t just his guards that played well, their energy translated throughout the roster on the practice court on Monday.

“We looked good today. I thought we looked really good. I thought there was some energy about us. I thought [Shackelford] was great. Quinerly was great. Rojas looked really good. … Juwan Gary, had been struggling lately, he looked really good today in practice.”

The Crimson Tide host the No. 13 LSU Tigers in Tuscaloosa Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2. They have a chance to even the season series with Missouri directly after and have a date in Athens with Georgia before No. 5 Baylor comes to town for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 29.

“We need to be ready for LSU at home. We need to be ready for Missouri. We’ve got to start playing better. We shouldn’t have to give motivational, Knute Rockne-type speeches to be ready for these games. They need to bring some energy to the game.”