Alabama players 'deserved to play well' against Kentucky after extra work in the gym, Oats says
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — One of the many complaints and criticisms that came from Alabama head coach Nate Oats following the team’s loss to Ole Miss last week was that his players didn’t deserve to play well due to the amount of work they’d put in ahead of that game.
“And I also, like I told the whole team, you’ve got to earn the right to play well,” Oats said after the Ole Miss game last Tuesday. “Are you spending enough time in the gym working on your game outside of practice, or are we having to beg you to get in the gym?
“It’s like some of these guys got to get in the gym and work on their game. We’re not going to practice them for three hours a day at this point of the season. We’ve kept practices short, hour and 15. We went on an hour and 20 yesterday. We didn’t practice Sunday at all. So how much are they getting in the gym, working on their own? You’ve got to deserve to play well. I’m not sure right now everybody on our team deserves to play well.”
In the wake of that game, Alabama got back on track, going on the road and beating a top-10 Kentucky team inside Rupp Arena, one of the toughest places to play in the sport.
The game saw Alabama make a significant jump from a shotmaking standpoint, going from 25 percent 3-point shooting against Ole Miss to 38 percent against Kentucky, and from 73 percent free throw shooting against Ole Miss to 85 percent against Kentucky.
Two Crimson Tide players had much better games from the floor in Chris Youngblood and Labaron Philon. Youngblood was 2-for-3 from deep after shooting 2-for-8 the game before, while Philon made 3-of-5 looks from downtown after going 0-for-8 from the floor the previous game.
During his Monday press conference, Oats credited the work both players put in before the weekend’s game.
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“I think CY has had that confidence,” Oats said. “He’s worked hard throughout his career. He deserves to make big shots. He’s extremely professional, hardworking, gets his shots up. He’s about the right stuff, he’s ultra-competitive Labaron, the work going into that game versus what he had prior to that was night and day, and he deserved to play well, too.
“I told the guys, it’s funny how that works. You get in the gym, you shoot a lot of shots, then the ball starts going in a lot more.”
The Kentucky game was Philon’s first double-figure scoring game since Jan. 4 against Oklahoma, and his first game shooting at least 50 percent from deep since Dec. 18 against North Dakota. Oats hopes it serves as a lesson for Philon and his preparation moving forward, and has already seen more positive things from him in preparation for Tuesday night’s game against Vanderbilt.
“I thought Labaron looked great in practice today, too. The ball’s going in for him still, he’s been in the gym. Hopefully he never forgets why he makes shots and he just stays in the gym and keeps deserving the right to make shots.”
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