Nate Oats: Alabama didn’t need ‘cheap plays’ to beat Auburn after Chad Baker-Mazara ejection

Celebrations in Neville Arena were rather large but not for the home team. A game-winning shot from Mark Sears meant Alabama closed out the regular season with a massive victory on the road against Auburn. Nate Oats challenged his team ahead of tip following two consecutive losses and saw them perform in a big way.

Auburn had to play the majority of the second half without Chad Baker-Mazara due to an ejection. Baker-Mazara was called for a Flagrant 2 foul for elbowing Chris Youngblood in the head area away from the ball. A massive call against Auburn that changed things up for Bruce Pearl.

Oats spoke on the moment postgame, saying Alabama did not need “cheap plays” in order to win on Saturday. The goal was to keep his team’s composure and focus on the most important thing in his mind, the scoreboard.

“I told the guys that we’re not doing anything dumb,” Oats said. “We’re trying to win the basketball game on the scoreboard, we don’t need any cheap shots. All that does is give the other team free plays. Would have been nice if Chris had converted on those two on the F2 but he (Baker-Mazara) was no longer available for his team. I just told our guys, don’t do anything dumb…

“We’re trying to win a basketball game, we’re not trying to win anything else. So, whatever the cheap plays that they had, we don’t need to do any of that stuff. We don’t do anything dumb to get a T, give them free points. Every point was needed tonight and it came down to the last possession.”

As Oats mentioned, Youngblood did miss both free throws after Baker-Mazara was called for the Flagrant 2 foul. Baker-Mazara not playing through most of the second half and all of overtime was the bigger story, though. Bruce Pearl could not send out one of his best and veteran players in a tight contest between two bitter rivals.

The goal was to win on the scoreboard and Alabama got the job done. It’s now a season split between the two after Auburn previously got a win in Tuscaloosa. Oats has a good overall record against Pearl since arriving at 7-5 as the Iron Bowl of Basketball continues to grow in intensity level.

You have to imagine Oats will hope his team keeps the same mindset as the postseason begins in Nashville.