Everything Nate Oats said after Alabama's 88-79 win over Arkansas State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama basketball men’s team defeated Arkansas State, 88-79, on Friday night to advance to 2-0 on the season. After the No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide’s victory, head coach Nate Oats spoke to local reporters. Below is everything that Oats said.

Oats’ opening statement…

“That’s a really good team we just played. I mean, I thought they were well coached. They had great talent, play hard. We needed to be pushed. I think they exposed some stuff we got to work on. But they gave us everything they had. It was tie game with seven minutes to go in the game. I think our guys got to realize the teams we put on the schedule, if we don’t play well, if we don’t move the ball, if we play selfish like I thought we did tonight at times, we’re not going to beat some of these teams. 

“I thought we did a good enough job on the offensive glass, and defensively, we were solid at times. They exposed some stuff on our defensive side. But we really won the game on the offensive boards. I mean, we had 21 second-chance points. They only had seven. We made a big point of emphasis on keeping them off the offensive boards. I thought we did a decent job of that. We did a good job getting our offensive glass, but a lot of other areas, we didn’t shoot it well. That had a lot to do with them. We didn’t get out in transition very much. They ended up with more fast-break points than we did. That had a lot to do with them. I thought they had a really good game playing defensively. 

“Now, a lot of their staff came from here. Bryan was with me for eight years. He’s got a lot of staff, but they’re doing a great job. That’s a really good roster. I thought Bryan did a really good job tonight. They did a great job, and I think they’re gonna win a lot of games this year.”

Oats on Derrion Reid in the second half…

“We felt like we were struggling shooting the ball a little bit, so we needed to get to the O boards. He’s got some athleticism. He did get to O board. I think he can be a lot better offensive rebounder. But the biggest point of emphasis us with him was just the defensive side of it. He gives us length. A kid that works hard. He’s smart on the defensive end. I thought he helped us get some stops. I didn’t think he played very well in the first half, but it took us a while to get him in the second half. But I thought we started going around – once they tied it, I think we went on a 15-4 run, maybe, after they had a tied at 68-all there with about seven minutes to go. And I thought defensively, he kind of helped us get some stops and we were able to get out a little bit and score off some of those.”

Oats on his message after ASU tied it; what Mo Dioubate meant in that moment…

“I thought that 8-minute to 4-minute mark was where we won the game in the second half, that steal he got and getting out. I said this is how we’re playing. This is what we’re supposed to be doing. Again, they had a lot to do with it, but we weren’t really playing the way we know how to play. We didn’t get the ball moving like we needed to. I thought we weren’t able to run off stops like we needed to. So I thought we were able to get some stops running on them, get the ball moving a little bit better in that stretch there. 

“And Dioubate gets the O boards, and we know he’s gonna play hard. We know what he brings this us. And he’s taking smart shots, too. We didn’t shoot very well from three. He went 1-for-1, so a low sample size, but he shot it well. Outside of him – again, Derrion was a low sample size at 1-of-2. But those two and Holloway are the only guys that really shot it well. The rest of the guys, I just didn’t think it moved well enough for us to shoot it great from three. But we know what Mo’s gonna bring us. And then those threes are kind of bonuses with him. But I think he’s playing smart, taking good shots and playing super physical.”

Oats on Grant Nelson’s play, particularly in the second half…

“He was really good on defense for us. He got to the glass. He ended up with 12 and six and probably had a few more minutes than what we planned on playing him. But I think he got to the rim, he finished a couple of the rim, too. So we’re going to need him to continue to play well. We’re going to need everybody to play well. But he was good. I mean, I think you saw him and Wrightsell, they’ve been out a while. They’re starting to get more comfortable. He looked like maybe he got in a groove a little bit better tonight than he was before. He just looked really rusty on Monday. So it was good. We were able to get him. Hopefully, both him and Wrightsell will get one more game under their belt Monday against McNeese, be a lot more comfortable and kind of have some game flow because they missed so much practice coming into the games.”

Oats on the best way to get into a rhythm when the offense is struggling…

“I think it starts on our defense. We gotta be able to get stops and rebounds, get it out. And then we just gotta make better decisions. I mean, you go back and look at some of our misses at the rim, we had guys wide open for three if the ball gets kicked out, they knock down a three, all of a sudden, we get going. We miss some one-more passes. We spray it. Guys are wide open on one-more, and we decide to shot fake, take the slide, dribble for ourself. We just gotta move the ball better. So we’ll show them the clips tomorrow in video. We’ll get it hopefully flushed out of our system, we’ll get to McNeese State and we’ll get the ball moving better against McNeese State.”

Oats on Nelson playing at the four; concerns about Alabama’s free-throw struggles…

“I think we’ve got a really skilled team – to answer the free-throw deal – and I’m not overly concerned. But our guys need to come locked in. To be honest with you, you look at the guys that missed them, I mean, Labaron, 5-of-9. He should be 7- of 8-of-9. Mark Sears has consistently, over his career, been a great three free-throw shooter. He goes 11-of-16. You’d expect him to go shoot 14-, 15- 16-of-16. It’s not like these are guys that I expect to keep missing them. Those would be the main two culprits, in my opinion. Jarin’s got to do better. He went 0-for-1. A low sample size again. But Derrion, 1-for-2. You can’t have a lot of guys step up and go 1-for-2, 2-for-4. Cliff went 4-for-2 Monday night, and then goes 2-for-4 tonight. Really, nobody outside of Wrightsell shot it the way we needed them to. So just everybody’s gotta be a little better. I think we will be. I think we just gotta come in with a little bit more focus.

“And then Grant I do think it helps he’s able to play the four. He’s got a lot more size on him. Team’s fours, you can’t attack from the perimeter. He seems to be finding Cliff fairly well on some drives. So think it’ll be good. He can bounce back and forth between the four and five, but Aiden Sherrell has been giving us some really good minutes, and he’s been one of our best offensive rebounders. He’s got three tonight in only 11 minutes. He had three or four the other night. So he’s doing what we ask him to do, and I think he’ll start making some shots here sometime soon. He’s just gotta get comfortable in the offense too.”

Oats on what has allowed Labaron Philon to earn so many minutes…

“He’s a great two-way player. He plays really hard on both sides of the bal. Out of the four games – the two exhibitions and then the two regular-season games – so far, this was his worst game offensively. I thought he maybe pressed a little bit, didn’t score at the free-throw line. But we know he’s gonna play hard on defense. He’s got size and athleticism, and he’s been playing the right way, really, since he stepped on campus. So hopefully this was just an aberration on the offensive end, and he gets back playing the way we’ve seen him been playing ever since he walked on campus.”

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