Alabama to honor its past but look to buck recent trend vs. Texas A&M

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 15 Alabama is set to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its 2003-04 men’s basketball team during Saturday’s game against Texas A&M at Coleman Coliseum.

Not only will the Crimson Tide wear throwback uniforms in the home game against the Aggies, but members of the 2003-04 team will be honored at halftime of the SEC matchup.

“It will be super cool,” head coach Nate Oats said on Friday. “That team that (Antoine) Pettway was on that went to the Elite Eight is coming back. They’re going to honor them during the game tomorrow.

“They’ve got great tradition around here. They’ve won a lot of games. Depending on what stat you look at, we’re either the second- or third-best basketball program in the history of the SEC, based on winning percentage, wins, total wins and all that. It’s nice to honor the past, the teams that won a lot of games before I was able to get here.”

One of the players who will be recognized is Pettway, who was an assistant under Oats for the last four years – and the last 16 seasons at Alabama – but landed his first head coaching job at Kennesaw State this offseason. The Owls are playing North Florida at home tonight.

“Hopefully, Pettway can get a win tonight and get on a two-game winning streak coming in here,” Oats said. 

Led by head coach Mark Gottfried, who is also expected to be in attendance, the 2003-04 Alabama team finished the season with a 20-13 (8-8 SEC) record and lost in the second round of the SEC Tournament but earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 8-seed. The Tide topped 9-seed Southern Illinois, 1-seed Stanford and 5-seed Syracuse.

Reaching the program’s first and only Elite Eight, Alabama lost to No. 7-seed and eventual national champion UConn, 87-71, in Phoenix to end a memorable season 20 years ago.

Revealed earlier this week, the uniforms feature Crimson above the player’s number and Tide below it on the front of the jersey, while Alabama’s retro block A logo is on the right leg of the shorts. Oats has been a fan of the older symbol since he took over the program in Tuscaloosa, sporting it on his clothing throughout his tenure. And now his players will, too.

“The uniforms look great,” Oats said. “It’s kind of nice to have an alternative uniform to play in. I think the guys are excited about them. It’s not gonna have anything to do with whether we win or lose the game, but it is nice to honor some teams that have won here in the past.”

Saturday will be a celebration, but in the regular season, UA hasn’t made much to celebrate after facing Texas A&M. The Tide has won 14 straight SEC games on its home floor, but the Aggies are the only squad that Oats has a losing record against during his time (1-3 overall, 0-3 regular season). The lone in over A&M came in last year’s SEC Championship Game.

“We found a way to be a half-game up in first place (in the SEC), but we’ve got the one team coming in that we’ve got a losing record against since I’ve been here coming in on Saturday,” Oats said. “So we’ve got to do a better job. In the past when we’ve played these guys, their defense has caused us issues with our turnovers. We turned it over too much. 

“This is the team that’s No. 1 in the country in offensive rebounding rate. They’ve got the best rebounder in our league in Anderson Garcia. He goes hard. I love watching him play. He’s tough. He’s physical. He plays hard. 

“So our guys are going to have to really man up to try to keep them off the glass. With the way we’ve been starting with the four guards, it may be harder. We may have to make some adjustments and go bigger if they can’t get it done and keep them off the glass.”

Alabama-Texas A&M will tip at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday, Feb. 17. The game will air on ESPN.

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