What Nate Oats wants to see in Alabama's second shot at Tennessee

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Nate Oats said Alabama is fortunate to be tied with Tennessee for first place in the SEC after the way the Volunteers thumped the Crimson Tide earlier this year.

Back on Jan. 20, Tennessee defeated Alabama, 91-71, in Knoxville, and in the loss, the Tide committed a season-high 22 turnovers. Taking better care of the basketball will be a top priority for Alabama in Round 2 later today. That and playing better on the defensive end.

The Crimson Tide has allowed an average of 99.3 points per game its last three times out. The number is inflated by the 117 points Kentucky scored last weekend, but defense remains one of, if not the, biggest issues for No. 14 Alabama as the regular season nears its end.

It will be especially important against the SEC’s leading scorer, Dalton Knecht, on Saturday.

“It’s gonna have to be great,” Oats said after Friday’s practice. “… Shoot, he’s scoring the ball at a high level. … His last game out, he kind of single-handedly took the game over the second part of the second half against Auburn and willed them to a win after Auburn had them down.

“We’ve gotta be aware of him, but they’ve got a really good team.”

Tennessee’s Wednesday win over Auburn was Knecht’s fourth game of 35 or more points this season, making him the only Division I player to accomplish that feat this year and the first Power Six player to do so since 2019-20. Knecht currently leads the SEC in scoring with 20.8 points per game – coming in just ahead of Alabama senior guard Mark Sears (20.6 ppg).

While Knecht has the Tide’s full attention, Oats knows the Vols have other talented players who can do damage, too. He also mentioned guards Zakai Zeigler and Santiago Vescovi as well as forward Jonas Aidoo when the Alabama coach shared his initial thoughts on Tennessee (22-6, 12-3 SEC) ahead of today’s battle for the top spot in the SEC standings.

“They just took a very good team, one of the best teams in the league, and added a leading scorer in the league to it in Knecht, and now they’ve got a team that’s primed to get a 1- of a 2-seed,” Oats said. “I’m sure anything short of a Final Four run they’d be disappointed in at the end of the year.

“This is a really good team we’ve got coming in here with the SEC league title on the line.”

Alabama (20-8, 12-3) will look to even the series when Tennessee travels to Tuscaloosa for a top-15 matchup. But it won’t be easy. The Vols have won five straight games and have scored 80 or more points in nine of their last 11 wins. In their last 11 wins of the 2022-23 season, UT scored 80-plus points in only one of the victories. Offensively, they’re much improved.

“We’ve got to establish, A, we’re gonna take care of the ball,” Oats said. “We’re gonna get our defense set. We need more stops. If we can get stops and get out in transition and we’re going against them when their defense isn’t set, we’re a lot better off. It’s a combination of a lot, but the turnovers and just the defensive focus, intensity, physicality, that wasn’t there the first time.”

Keeping the Tennessee big men in check will also be a point of emphasis this time around. Although the Tide won the rebounding battle in Knoxville, 37-34, Aidoo scored 19 points and was 9-of-14 from the field. The 6-foot-11 forward has scored in double figures in five consecutive games, which includes two double-doubles against Arkansas and Texas A&M.

Oats doesn’t want to see Alabama’s bigs get ducked in like the last meeting but believes that group as a whole has improved since the Crimson Tide’s trip to Thompson-Boling Arena.

“(Nick) Pringle’s been really good here lately,” Oats said. “I think he’s gonna be a little more primed and ready for the game. I think some of our younger kids have grown up a little more.

“I told our freshmen, ‘It’s March now. We don’t need you to be acting like freshmen. You need to look a lot more like sophomores. You’ve played a whole season of basketball and gotten a lot of reps.’ So hopefully Jarin (Stevenson) and Mo Dioubate will be a lot better for us. 

“Our frontcourt guys just gotta be a little tougher.”

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