Nate Oats reveals how Alabama defense stymied Jermaine Couisnard

When a reporter read the stat line of Jermaine Couisnard to Nate Oats, the Alabama coach was a bit taken aback. He knew his team had performed well defensively on the South Carolina star, but underestimated just how well.

As Oats read the stat sheet from the 90-71 victory against the Gamecocks, he made note of Couisnard’s plus-minus, which put into perspective just how dominant the Crimson Tide were.

“We did a good job on him,” Oats said in his postgame press conference. “He was only 1-of-5 from 3 and he had seven turnovers. I thought the matchups we had on him did a good job. We started out with Keon Ellis on him. (Jaden) Shackelford took turns on him. Other guys got switched on him and I thought all of them did a pretty good job. He got to the line a little bit, but if you look when he was in the game — and nothing against him, (it was) just our guys locking in — they were a minus 24. So I think we really did a good job locking into him and making life difficult for him on the offensive end.”

Nate Oats knew the challenge his team faced against Jermaine Couisnard heading into Saturday’s matchup. The Gamecocks guard had been on a tear in his previous two games, scoring a career-high 33 points against LSU on Feb. 19 and 22 against Mississippi State in the next game. His scoring surge also coincided with a four-game winning streak, so Alabama was on alert not to take South Carolina lightly.

The Crimson Tide wasted no time jumping out to an early advantage, taking a 23-point lead into halftime. Couisnard scored the first five points for the Gamecocks but Alabama quickly tightened up its defense as he finished with just 13. Although the Crimson Tide have one more home game remaining, Saturday served as the program’s Senior Day sendoff. It was a great memory for the five seniors on the roster, including Keon Ellis, the player primarily tasked with guarding Couisnard.

Alabama now has just two games remaining in the regular season before the SEC Tournament begins on March 9. The Crimson Tide appear safely in the tournament regardless of what happens, as they were listed as a five seed in On3’s most recent bracketology projections. However, the final two games could still have a big impact on seeding, so they will hope for a strong finish.

The Crimson Tide are next set to face Texas A&M at 6 p.m. CT Wednesday in Tuscaloosa.