Does Nate Oats think Alabama is the best team in the country? 'We'll see Saturday'

Alabama’s trip to Austin, Texas had all the makings of a distraction. A trap. A letdown.

The Crimson Tide was ranked No. 1 in the Coaches Poll and No. 2 in the AP Top 25 Poll while rival Auburn was the opposite on each list. The two in-state teams will face off on Saturday in a historic matchup that will feature teams currently tied for first place in the conference.

Texas is an NCAA Tournament bubble team that could have benefited from a win, too. But Alabama went into its home gym and cruised to a 103-80 win on Tuesday. The Tide shot 59 percent from three, and five of Alabama’s nine available players made multiple triples in the win. The Crimson Tide led the Longhorns by double digits for the entire second half.

Alabama (21-3, 10-1 SEC) looked like one of the top teams in the country the last time out, but is Nate Oats’ squad the country’s best team with seven regular-season games to go?

“We’ll see Saturday who’s the best team in the country, I guess,” Oats said.

Auburn (22-2, 10-1) remained No. 1, according to the coaches, despite losing to Florida on its home floor, 90-81, a week ago. The Tigers will travel to Tuscaloosa on Saturday, February 15, for a highly-anticipated matchup between high-level teams separated by 150 miles.

The first of two meetings over the next seven games will be the 44th all-time meeting between the nation’s top two teams – and the first featuring teams from the SEC. College GameDay will be on hand for the clash, and all eyes will be on Coleman Coliseum at 3 p.m.

After surviving two road wins, Alabama can now turn all of its attention to Auburn for the first of a two-round, heavyweight fight – barring a rematch in the SEC Tournament. Having won seven consecutive SEC games, the Crimson Tide has a chance to prove it’s No. 1.

“I think we got a chance to be, but Auburn’s best team in the country right now,” Oats said. “We gotta knock them out on Saturday if we want to claim to be the best team in the country.”

After a late game in Austin, Alabama will likely take Wednesday off – at least from an on-court standpoint – before two full days of prep. Jarin Stevenson, who scored a career-high 22 points versus the Horns, was asked for the keys to beating the Tigers by UT reporters.

“Definitely a lot of preparation going into that. A lot of film study,” Stevenson said. “It’s a chance for us to prove ourselves. I feel like we have a great team, and we’re definitely gonna prepare.”

One area that could help Alabama climb to the top of college basketball standing is cutting down on turnovers. The Tide gave the ball away 17 times against Texas, which turned those into 26 points. The Horns scored 39 points off of turnovers and second-chance points (13). While it was an efficient shooting night, Oats knows there are still areas to clean up.

“We had way too many turnovers again,” Oats said. “That’s becoming a major issue with us. Gotta give Texas a lot of credit. They got into us. They were physical with us. They forced some turnovers. And I thought they played hard. 

“… So we were fortunate to get these two wins on the road trip, both Arkansas and here. Now, we got to lock in. We’ve got a pretty tough stretch here these last seven games coming up.”

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