Nate Oats shares what makes Brandon Miller special for Alabama

Brandon Miller is already making a name for himself in Tuscaloosa for the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The young forward has been tremendous for Nate Oats’ team throughout the beginning of the season, and a huge reason for why Alabama has been able to find some huge victories. Speaking with the media, Oats shared what’s making Miller special for the Crimson Tide.

“I think he wants to win. I think he’s a kid that’s really invested in Alabama basketball. Wants to make us as good of a team as we can be,” stated Oats. “When we need him to rebound, defend, get some deflections, he’s been able to do that. He passed the ball pretty well tonight too. He had five assists and only two turnovers, which we needed some guys to be able to get some assist without turning the ball over. I thought he was pretty good with a lot of that stuff.

“I didn’t think he forced the issues too much in the first half. He kind of let the game come to him, and ends up with 24 points after only having three in the first half. So I think he’s shown some patience, some willingness to involve his teammates like he has to and ends up having a really good game here tonight.”

A former five-star recruit per the On3 Consensus, Miller has lived up to his billing, averaging 18.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game thus far in his Alabama career. He’s been a huge reason why the Crimson Tide are 9-1, with wins over two former No. 1 teams in the country.

Alas, the sky is the limit for Brandon Miller, and Nate Oats is going to do whatever he can to help the star forward reach his potential.

Nate Oats details what makes 2022-23 team different than past groups

This year’s Alabama team has already made history by knocking off two No. 1-ranked teams before the calendar flips. But Nate Oats listed another reason the Crimson Tide are different this season.

After Alabama fought off Memphis 91-88 on Tuesday, Oats talked about how the Crimson Tide plays as a team — not as individual players. He said that chemistry is essential to success, and he pointed to a specific example from Tuesday’s game to prove his point.

“I think they all are really, truly for the team,” Oats said. “Like even tonight, some guys didn’t play well, they’re upset they didn’t play well. But it’s more they’re upset their let the team down, not they’re upset because their individual numbers weren’t great. [Jahvon] Quinerly didn’t play great. He’s down on himself a little bit. Didn’t play great at Houston. He’s great. He’s happy the team won, knows he needs to play better to help the team, but he’s not mad about personal numbers. 

“I just think we’ve got a group of kids that pulls for each other, that challenges each other. … We saw that a lot with year two when we won the SEC regular season tournament. Alex Reese, Herb Jones, ‘Just keep them in, Coach. They’re playing great.’ We’ve got a lot of that going on on this team. And we’re deep. We’ve got some talent. We’ve got a good mix of veteran guys, freshman. The guys get along. I think they all like each other, as far as I can tell, which is a good thing. They want each other to do well.”

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.