Nate Oats pushes Missouri player amid scrum

There are no off nights in the SEC, with Alabama and Missouri facing off on Tuesday. Both are looking to get in the win column but for different reasons. The Tigers have not won in conference play yet, falling to 0-3 in the SEC. Meanwhile, Nate Oats is hoping his team can remain undefeated through four games.

Early in the first half, emotions are already running high. Heading into the under-8 media timeout, players got into a bit of a scrum with each other. Nothing too unusual between two competitive teams, playing as hard as they could.

However, Oats got involved and pushed a Missouri player away while telling him to go back to the bench. Aidan Shaw was on the receiving end and was able to keep his cool throughout the entire sequence.

The officials even went to the monitor for a review, with nothing coming out of it. In fact, a referee was right behind Oats and pulled him back away from the Missouri players and closer to the Alabama bench.

You can check out the full moment here.

Get out! pic.twitter.com/AwULuLRlsC

— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) January 17, 2024

You would not typically consider Alabama and Missouri rivals, with there not being too much history between the two programs. Oats is 3-1 against the Tigers during his time in Tuscaloosa. The lone loss came during the 2020-2021 season, one where Alabama was able to win the SEC regular season and tournament.

With the officials not making too much of the incident, it may surmount to nothing. Emotions should continue to be high for the two teams, especially if the game continues to stay within single digits. As mentioned, both know how important this game is.

Oats has expressed his thoughts before and likely will again. We saw it recently following Alabama’s win against South Carolina, discussing some of the trash-talking the Gamecocks did.

“They made the statement the SEC isn’t ready for them,” Nate Oats said, according to the Tuscaloosa News’ Chase Goodbread. “Guess we’ll see if the SEC is ready for them. This SEC team was ready for them.”

Somebody will surely ask Oats about the push during his postgame press conference following the game. Maybe he can give more context to the situation and explain what unfolded.

For now, he is likely worried about making sure Alabama defends home court and gets a win against Missouri. Staying undefeated in the SEC heading into Saturday’s contest against Tennessee would set up for a fantastic matchup.