Alabama displays maturity with road blowout of Texas

No. 2 Alabama’s game against Texas on Tuesday night was widely considered a “trap game.” It’s a cliche in sports typically used to describe a game that could sneak up on a team and be more challenging than expected, especially when surrounded by seemingly more important games.

Trap games usually involve going on the road, either coming off a big win or right before a monumental game. In this case, the Tide’s game against the Longhorns came right before Saturday’s monster No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup against Auburn at home, a very easy game to look ahead to and focus on.

But head coach Nate Oats doesn’t really like the “trap game” term. Instead, he prefers to call it a “maturity test.” He says it’s the mark of a mature team to be able to handle its business against an inferior opponent, regardless of what’s surrounding it on the schedule.

“I think we’ve somewhat overlooked teams here in the past, and it’s not a mature thing to do,” Oats said before the Tide’s 2-game road trip to play Arkansas and Texas the past week. “It’s not what a team that’s got veteran leadership should be doing. And I hope we don’t do it. But there’s plenty of opportunities for it.”

On Tuesday night, Alabama passed that test with flying colors. The Crimson Tide went into the Moody Center in Austin and looked like the No. 2 team in the country is supposed to look. It took the lead early and never looked back, ultimately beating the Longhorns by 23 points and emptying out the stands early in the process.

After the game, Oats was pleased with the maturity his group showed.

“I do think we’ve got a mature group. They know they’ve prepared,” Oats said. “We kind of get into it, the hay’s in the barn, if you will, going into these games. Like we know we have to do. We don’t get upset if the other team hits some tough shots we’re willing to give up. Now, the turnovers was a little upsetting. They had so many rebounds we gave up was a little upsetting. But we try to be intense, like you said, very intense.

“Play hard, give max effort. But we’re not trying to flip out over stuff. We come prepared. We know what we gotta do. We get it done. We execute the game plan. We get out of here with a win.”

It was an important win for Alabama as it chases an SEC regular season title, currently sitting tied for first place in the league standings with Auburn at 10-1 in conference play. The two teams will meet twice this season, once on Saturday in Tuscaloosa and a second time in Auburn on March 8. With both teams having only dropped one game, taking care of business against teams they’re supposed to beat is imperative for staying in the hunt for the title.

Alabama’s remaining schedule is one of the toughest remaining schedules in all of college basketball, playing seven consecutive ranked teams to close out the season. It all starts Saturday, as No. 1 Auburn comes to town for a 3 p.m. CT tipoff on ESPN.

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