Nate Oats happy with three-point shooting in Eastern Kentucky win

After a 2-5 stretch the past month, Alabama went into the holiday on a high note with a 44-point win. They were able to do so for several reasons but one aspect that was of note to Nate Oats was the Crimson Tide’s shooting from distance.

Oats spoke about ‘Bama’s efficiency from behind the arc during his postgame press conference after the 111-67 win over Eastern Kentucky. In order to reach their season-high in points, he thought it was crucial that they broke out of their slumps, including their one from three, by knocking down their attempts.

“Yeah, I thought it was really important,” said Oats. “Obviously, Eastern Kentucky’s three-point percentage defense hasn’t been good but you still have to make them. They’re not layups – you have to make the shots. They’re not guaranteed to go in, even if you’re wide open.”

“I thought it was good that we had the kind of shooting night that we had,” Oats said.

That’s not all, though. To Oats, it wasn’t just that Alabama made 19 three-pointers, which tied their season high. It was that several players, including unexpected ones, had good nights from deep and helped them to shoot their season’s third-best percentage.

“I thought it was good that guys that maybe hadn’t made a ton in the past? Like Rylan (Griffen), (Davin) Cosby? They went a combined 9-15,” Oats said. “That’s nice that those two guys who hadn’t been two of our better shooters kind of had it going. Sam (Walters) had another great shooting night, even if it was on low reps.”

“You look at the guys who shot 50% or better? Grant (Nelson), who struggled last game, goes 2-3. Grant, Rylan, (Latrell) Wrightsell, Sam, Davin. To have that many guys shoot at least 50% is nice,” said Oats. “Teams can’t just focus on (Mark) Sears or just (Aaron) Estrada. We’ve got a lot of guys that can make threes too.”

Griffen had a career game with a best in scoring with 19 points with five makes from three on nine attempts. Cosby Jr. (4-6), Wrightsell Jr. (3-6), and Nelson (2-3) also had some of their best nights shooting from long range since joining the Tide.

This performance came off a skid where Alabama had made just a dozen threes on 19.1% shooting.

The Crimson Tide needed a feel-good game after falling flat against three straight Top-10 teams. They did exactly that by shooting the lights out and must now continue proficiency upon their return to the floor at Liberty on December 30th.