Everything Nate Oats said after Alabama's 80-73 win over LSU

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 4 Alabama defeated LSU, 80-73, on Saturday in Coleman Coliseum. After the Crimson Tide advanced to 17-3 (6-1 SEC) on the season, Alabama head coach Nate Oats spoke to reporters. Below is everything Oats said following the home victory.

Oats’ opening statement…

“I thought we did a pretty good job defensively in the second half. We gave up a 1.11 in the first half and then held them to a 0.83 in the second half. So we’ve been challenging these guys. I didn’t think our second-half defense had been very good lately. So we made the point to the guys, we’re done starting the same group that starts the game. We’re going to start the guys that we think give us the best chance to get a great start in the second half. So we subbed in two guys in the starting lineup, kind of looked at some leverage numbers, +/- numbers and kind of challenged a couple guys. And listen, I couldn’t be more proud of our guys in the second half when we gave up a 0.83.

“Cliff, I didn’t think he was bringing it. They had a kid with 15 rebounds. Cliff was not rebounding like he needed to, wasn’t playing as hard as we liked, and he ends up going on playing extremely hard in the second half, had a great attitude on the bench and ends up winning the Hard Hat after not starting the second half. So I kind of just told the guys that’s how life goes sometimes. There’s a little adversity and you gotta challenge it well. I was super proud of the way Cliff handled it. 

“And I’ll just say this, and I’m not going to talk anymore about playing time stuff, we went with the guys in the second half that I thought gave us the best chance to win this game. We won the game, and our defense was significantly better than the first half. And we haven’t done that very often this year. So that’s all I’m going to say about that stuff. 

“Look, the rebounding was obviously an issue. I gotta give a ton of credit to LSU. Corey Chest with 15 rebounds in the first half, ends with 18. But he didn’t end up getting up an offensive board in the second half, I don’t believe. So that was a major issue, all the offensive boards they had. They ended up out-scoring us on second-chance points only by three, but we gave up way too many O boards. But in the second half, kind of clean that up a little bit. 

“It’s the fourth time this season we got out-rebounded. So that’s something we’re going to have to really address going into Mississippi State. We’re going to turn our full attention to that game on the road at Mississippi State because that’s not going to be an easy one, and they’re tough. Coach Jans’ teams are always tough. But this LSU game, I’ll say this, Coach McMahon, to only have one win at this point – and it’s still early in the season. To only have one conference win and to get his guys just ready to go, a lot of credit to them, a lot of credit to the players, a lot of credit to the staff. I thought they did well. 

“We’ve got to get our offense better. It wasn’t great. We know. It certainly wasn’t very good in the second half. But the thing we’ve been challenging our team about, the defensive intensity in the second half, super proud of the way they came out guarding in the second half.”

Oats on Labaron Philon coming off the bench, Chris Youngblood making his first start…

“Labaron’s played great for us. He was injured. He couldn’t practice yesterday. We’re trying to make a big deal out of practicing hard and all that. But the bigger reason was he’d been struggling a little here lately, and I thought maybe playing him against the second unit. I mean, Holloway, up until tonight – I mean, he’s not going to be leading the league in field goal percentage after tonight’s shooting. But Holloway came off the bench, kind of goes against some team’s second unit and he’s leading the league in field goal percentage and playing the best basketball of his career. So I’ve done in the past where we had three-time sixth man of the year up in Buffalo, Nick Perkins, probably the best big in the league, came off the bench three straight years and won sixth man of the year. So sometimes it helps a little bit. 

“The other deal is these guys that want to go play in the NBA, they’re going to have to learn how to play off the bench, come in, be a spark. Holloway’s figured it out pretty well. He’s been great for us. And he’s playing as well as anybody in our backcourt right now. I liked his spark off the bench. I kind of said to Labaron, let’s try to do that with you. The injury’s kind of there, stay warm. I thought he played pretty well. I thought his attitude was great. He cheered his teammates on. He didn’t shoot it particularly well, but he went 6-of-6 at the line and three assists, one turnover. We needed his play. I thought he guarded well. So we’ll see.

“CY, I talked to CY. He’s like, ‘Coach whatever you need.’ I mean, he’s such a great kid, doesn’t care whether he starts, doesn’t start. We had a lot of really good kids come through this program, and he’s at the top of that list. He doesn’t really care whether he starts. He just wants impact winning. I thought he impacted winning tonight. He started out 5-for-5 to start the game. I mean, Jarin led us in +/- with plus-16 and CY was right there with plus-10. Those are the only two guys in double digits on +/-. And Mo Dioubate, we know. Those are the top three guys in +/-. Well, they play hard. They’re all about the team. They’re not into their own stats at all. They just want to do what it take takes to win the game. And it just so happens they’re the three guys that led us in +/- tonight.”

Oats on why Mark Sears didn’t play in the second half; the team’s leadership in this game…

“The team’s leadership was great. A lot of guys encouraging everybody on the floor. And yeah, we just played the guys we thought gave us the best chance to win that second half.”

Oats on was finding enough offense without Sears similar to the Illinois game…

“I think it was. I thought that Illinois game, though, we were actually really good on offense. The ball was moving, had a lot of assists. If you go look at our better offensive productions against good defenses – you guys all got access to KenPom and can see where Illinois’ defense is ranked – they’ve got one of the better defenses in the country. If you go look at our efficiency numbers that game, the ball was really moving well. Tonight, it wasn’t moving as well as we needed it to. I thought there was way too many bad rim reads. I didn’t think we were great on offense tonight. It’s smilar where we did have to get more scoring from elsewhere. Tonight. we did get to the free-throw line a little bit. Got to the O boards. We figured it out. 

“I mean, our defense essentially won the game, though, really. I mean, our offense was good enough to win, but our defense won us this game. Where I did think, against Illinois, our defense wasn’t bad, but our offense won that game, if you go look. I mean, our defense, that was a good game. That was one of the better games we played all year. But the ball moved. We had guys stepped up, scored it when Mark wasn’t able to find his kind of scoring rhythm. But yeah, I mean, there’s a couple games now where he hasn’t been able to score, but we can just keep at it.”

Oats on who else stepped up in the second half from an effort perspective…

“I thought just about every guy that played did, to be honest with you. You look at Dioubate, I didn’t think he was his normal self in the first half. I thought it was better in the second half. I thought Jarin Stevenson, like I said, the guy only scored three points, had three rebounds, but he’s locked into the defense, ends up with three steals and plus-16. I thought Jarin’s effort was pretty good. I think Holloway’s getting better on defense. I thought he was pretty good guarding people. And Grant, I mean, Grant’s been pretty solid all year, to be honest. That three he hit was big, the free throws were big. We needed to rebound it better, but he was solid, as well. I thought everybody we played in the second half gave us the intensity and the effort we needed to win that game.”

Oats on what response he wants to see from Sears as a leader…

“The same response Cliff gave us in the second half – be all about doing the stuff we need to win basketball games.”

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