Alabama basketball needs 'sense of urgency' on defense, Oats says

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men’s basketball team escaped Grand Forks with a 97-90 win over North Dakota on Wednesday in a homecoming game for senior Grant Nelson.

“I was glad we were able to go up there and play a game in North Dakota for Grant, but we didn’t play very good,” said Alabama head coach Nate Oats on Friday. “Obviously, we didn’t do a very good job on Eaglestaff. 

“Defensively, we’ve got to get a lot better, especially with the way the SEC looks this year.”

UND guard Treysen Eaglestaff dropped 40 points on Alabama in the narrow loss. The Fighting Hawks shot 41 percent (17-of-41) from deep as a team, while Eaglestaff went 8-of-18.

Cleaning up the defensive miscues from the rare road trip was a priority in Friday’s practice.

“In practice, I thought we were significantly better on defense,” Oats said. “But it’s can you do it every day even if it’s not after giving up 40 to a particular scorer? We’re gonna challenge our guys defensively until we get the defense figured out. We need everybody to step up, and that’s been the theme the last couple days around here.”

Alabama (9-2) won its ninth game of the season, but the Crimson Tide has given up 80 or more points in all but four of its 11 games in non-conference play. While ranking sixth in the nation in offensive efficiency, Alabama currently sits at 57th in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom, with 99.6 points allowed per 100 possessions as of Friday, December 20.

Oats said the Tide needs to get back to harping on defensive fundamentals every day instead of solely focusing on the scouting report – which is still important – for the upcoming opponent.

“There’s certain things that you just have to have, and if you’re not focused on them in practice or drilling them, they start to go away a little bit,” Oats said. “So that’s what we did today just at the beginning of practice, and we’re probably just gonna have to continue to do it.

“We’re just working on some of the fundamentals – close-outs, staying in front of the ball, ball pressure, tracing it. Some of those threes we gave up, guys just weren’t into the ball. They just let them eye them up and shoot it.”

With just two more games left before Alabama begins the SEC portion of its 2024-25 schedule, Oats has clearly placed an emphasis on the defensive end of the floor. He has not hit the panic button yet, but the message to the players is explicit about a better defensive effort.

“I think our guys have to realize how hard you have to play against these good players and good teams in order to be any good on defense,” Oats said. 

“I think our second year when we finished third in the country in defensive efficiency, I do believe we were 55th either at the beginning of December or the middle of December. So we’ve been in a similar spot before and finished top three. That’s our goal. We’ve got a lot of work to do to get there. It’s gonna take a ton, but we’ve just gotta get back to some of the fundamentals. 

“We’ve gotta have some guys with a sense of urgency on that end of the floor. And I’ve gotta start to play the guys who do have that sense of urgency. We’ve gotta cut the rotation down a little bit anyway. Some guys that don’t wanna guard just aren’t gonna play very much anymore.”

Alabama will play host to Kent State on Sunday, December 22, at noon CT (SEC Network).

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