Nate Oats reveals blunt message to Alabama youngsters: 'They need to grow up in a hurry'

The majority of Alabama‘s scoring came from their veteran leadership during Saturday’s 81-74 loss to Tennessee on Saturday. That isn’t going to cut it from here on out, according to Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats.

Alabama’s 74-point finish was its lowest since Jan. 9 as nothing seemed to be falling for the Crimson Tide, who shot 38.3% from the floor and 24.3% from deep. Meanwhile, the Vols features a more balanced scoring effort as they went on to steal the victory on the road.

“[Tennessee] is a veteran group,” Oats said postgame. “Look, every kid they play outside of (J.P.) Estrella – played less than three minutes as a freshman. (Tobe) Awaka is a sophomore, played less than eight minutes. Everybody else is a junior or senior or fifth-year senior.

“You go down our list and (Jarin) Stevenson is starting as a freshman, should have been a senior in high school, 25 minutes. Sam Walters, Davin Cosby, (Mo) Dioubate. Rylan Griffen is a sophomore. We’re playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores. They need to grow up in a hurry if we’re gonna try to have a shot to win these last two and try to make a run at the SEC Tournament. We need those guys to grow up and play a little more like juniors and seniors than freshmen and sophomores.”

The veterans that Alabama does have on the roster have been the driving force in the Crimson Tides’ efforts this season. Mark Sears is one of the stop scorers in the SEC this season, while fellow seniors Aaron Estrada, Grant Nelson, Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Nick Pringle all have played significant minutes for Nate Oats this season.

Sears, Estrada and Pringle went on to combine to score 51 of Alabama’s 54 points on the night. Starting underclassmen Stevenson and Griffen combined for eight points on the night. Overall, the Crimson Tide made two of their final 13 field goals down the stretch and went scoreless for over eight minutes of game play.

“If you’re gonna win a championship, there’s championship-level plays that have to be made that we didn’t make,” Oats said. “And when you get a 7-point lead against a good team, you can’t take possessions for granted. I thought we threw away way too many possessions on the offensive end. So we’ve gotta learn from it.”

Alabama has two games remaining in its regular season schedule before heading into the SEC Tournament. Next up for the Crimson Tide is a road trip to No. 24 Florida on Tuesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET live on ESPN.