Nate Oats shares how in-game fight with Auburn impacted Alabama

Alabama secured the SEC regular season title Wednesday night, cutting down the nets on their home court following a come from behind victory over rival Auburn. Like many rivalry games, things got heated between the two squads, which included a bench-clearing squabble that led to multiple ejections. After the game, Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats was asked if the incident ignited his team’s play in any kind of way.

“Listen we were in the middle of a run at the time, I was a little worried we might lose some of the momentum,” Oats said. “But we gathered them together, it was at the under eight (minute) media timeout anyways, and just said we can’t lose the momentum we had. We got to come out and get some stops right out of the gate.”

Players Jahvon Quinerly and Wendell Green got into a back-and-forth pushing match with 7:31 left in the second half that led to multiple Crimson Tide players leaving the bench. Charles Bediako, Rylan Griffen, and Alabama assistant coach all left the bench area due to the scuffle, and were all ejected from the game per NCAA rules.

The Crimson Tide were down by as many as 17 points in the game and were in process of crawling back into the game prior to the altercation. The altercation was reviewed and also led to a foul on Auburn’s leading scorer Johni Broome, his fifth of the game, causing him to foul out and sending Quinerly to the free thrown line to close Alabama’s deficit to just five points. 

“So I’m not sure that ignited us anymore because we were already in the middle of starting a run. But it was an emotional game and we continued to make the run after that incident,” Oats said.

Quinerly has a stellar night, leading the game in scoring with a season-high 24 points off of the bench. Brandon Miller, Mark Sears, and Noah Clowney each had 17 points as well to help elevate the Crimson Tide to a 90-85 overtime win over the Tigers.

The victory marked Alabama’s second SEC regular season title in the last three years in a season highlighted by on-the-court success and off-the-court controversy for the Crimson Tide. Alabama has secured the No. 1 seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament, as they face the solidified No. 2 seed Texas A&M Aggies in their regular season finale on the road this Saturday.