Alabama basketball striving for top-three defense once again

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Nate Oats challenged Alabama to play better on the defensive end of the court its last time out. The Crimson Tide responded by holding South Alabama to 46 points in a 56-point victory. But after the impressive showing, Oats is still emphasizing defense.

“He’s still on us,” senior guard Latrell Wrightsell said. “We made a lot of mistakes that we didn’t see from that game. They didn’t make us pay for it, but we’re still working on our defense and he’s still on us about it. We still have to be better. Right now, we’re trying to be top three in the country defensively, so we still have a lot of work to do.”

In two of the last three years, Alabama has finished No. 3 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom. And in both instances, the Tide won the SEC Tournament and regular-season titles and received a top-eight seed in the NCAA Tournament. 

After its first three games, Alabama (3-0) is 22nd in the country in defensive efficiency with 92.5 points allowed per 100 possessions. While Oats is pleased with the steps his team took between Games 2 and 3, particularly in protecting the rim, he sees room for improvement.

“The years we have been top three in the country in defense, we’ve done a lot of big things,” Oats said. “The year between we were 92nd in the country in defense, it was still a good year if we hadn’t just had the year before. … When your defense isn’t there, you’re much more primed for upsets. If you have poor shooting nights, you’re not in the games. 

“I just think our guys understand that if we’re going to do what we want to do as a team, we’ve got to be great on the defensive end of the floor. I didn’t think we were in the scrimmage, the exhibition and the first two games. I do think against South, we were looking a lot better, a lot more like what we want to be looking.”

The Crimson Tide is looking to get its defense right in these first four games before playing Ohio State and either Oregon or Santa Clara next week in Destin, Fla. One area that hasn’t been an issue, however, is the offensive output, as Alabama has scored 100 or more points in each of its first three games, marking the first time that’s happened since 1956-57.

Alabama is currently third in adjusted offensive efficiency with 118.8 points scored per 100 possessions, per KenPom. The highest the Tide has finished in Oats’ tenure as head coach is 16th in 2021-22 (115.2), but the aspiration is to keep this up on both ends of the court.

“We’re trying to have the top-three defense and be a top-three offensive team,” said redshirt freshman guard Davin Cosby. “One team did that, and they were national champions. And that’s what we’re trying to be. That’s our goal, to be a national champion team, so we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to make history.”

That team was UConn, which finished its title-winning season in 2022-23 ranked third in offensive efficiency and seventh in defensive efficiency. While Oats said UA’s percentage from three after three games of 50.7 percent (35-of-69) isn’t sustainable, finishing in the top 10 on both ends of the floor is something this Crimson Tide team can strive toward.

“Our offense is top three, that’s great,” Oats said. “If our defense was top three, as well, we’d have the makes of a championship contender. … We’ve made that point to our guys.

“We’re trying to be great on both sides of the ball. Our offense has always been pretty good. It’s never been top three like our defense has two out of the last three years. … Our defense has been a little more inconsistent, but when it’s been great, it’s been great. Our offense has been consistently good. 

“It’d be great if we could be top 10 in both, but we’ve got some work to do on the defensive end, and then offensively, we’re going to play a lot better defensive teams here coming up soon.”

NEXT UP

Alabama will close out a four-game homestand by hosting Mercer on Friday, Nov. 17. The game against the Bears is set to start at 7 p.m. CT and can be streamed on SEC Network+.

Game links: WATCH | LISTEN | STATS

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