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Nate Oats responds to Alabama students chanting 'NIT' during blowout win over Kentucky

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•01/07/23•

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Michael Chang/Getty Images

Alabama students were feeling themselves during Saturday’s blowout victory of Kentucky at Coleman Coliseum. At one point, they started chanting “NIT” in response to the Wildcats’ struggles this year — but Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats doesn’t think Kentucky is an NIT team.

He expects to see them in the big dance.

“Kentucky’s not going to the NIT,” Oats said, via KSR’s Tyler Thompson. “They’re going to be an NCAA Tournament team.”

The chants made their way around social media as reporters tweeted the message from the Alabama student section as the Crimson Tide cruised to a 78-52 victory. Oats didn’t think too much of the chants and reiterated his respect for Kentucky despite the Wildcats’ tough performance.

“College students being college students,” Oats said. “They’ve got some talent. They didn’t shoot the ball well today. When you shoot 29%, it’s hard to win games.”

Nate Oats credits Alabama for playing hard despite having sizable lead

After putting up 35 points in the first half, Alabama looked strong again on offense in the second half, outscoring Kentucky 43-28 after the break. The Crimson Tide got some big performances in the victory, led by 19 points from Brandon Miller and 16 points from Mark Sears to help pace the effort on that end of the floor.

Oats also pointed out a parallel to Alabama’s last game against Ole Miss when the Crimson Tide had a 27-point lead at the under-eight minute media timeout. In that matchup, the Rebels cut into that lead before the Tide pulled away.

Alabama again had a 27-point lead at the under-eight, and Oats said the players didn’t want to allow another run like that.

“I just thought our guys played hard,” Oats said. “We were up 27 on Ole Miss, we got the timeout I think at the under-8, we were up 27 again. Against Ole Miss, we cut it to 15, so what are we going to do here? Everybody’s like, ‘Let’s put our foot on their throat and kill them.’ I thought we came out of that under-eight timeout, getting some stops and ready to go.”