Nate Oats gives keys to replicating hot Sweet 16 performance in Elite Eight

NEWARK, N.J. — Alabama played arguably — and probably unanimously — its best game of the season in a 113-88 rout of BYU in the Sweet 16. Everything went right for the Crimson Tide offensively, including making a program record 25 threes on 49 percent shooting for the night.

The win now has Alabama in the Elite Eight for the second year in a row and just the third time in school history, where it will meet 1-seed Duke on Saturday. After the Tide’s big win on Thursday, head coach Nate Oats was asked what all Alabama fans want to know — how can Alabama replicate what it just did to BYU in its next game?

“Yeah, we’ve had plenty of games where we haven’t shot it well. I think we’ve been really focused on making sure we don’t overdo practice, legs are fresh, minds are fresh while still getting the scouting report in,” Oats said. “They’re supposed to be off their legs as soon as the media gets out of the locker room. Let’s get them back to the hotel, let’s get them off their legs, let’s get the recovery started. Tomorrow it’ll just be walk-through, and then we’ve got to be ready to go.”

Oats was asked this before he knew whether he would be playing Duke or 4-seed Arizona in the Elite Eight, as they two played directly after Alabama in the Prudential Center on Thursday. Regardless of who it was going to be, Oats knew the Tide needed to share the ball in a similar way that led to its 27 assists as a team against the Cougars.

“Now, we’ve got to keep moving the ball. Obviously whether it’s Duke or Arizona, their defense is going to be a little different,” Oats said. “They’ve got some probably better rim protection, try to build out on us. We’ve got to do a good job on the offensive side of the ball, showing them how they can get the threes.”

Oats knows that after a record-breaking shooting night, the opposition isn’t likely to allow near as many threes to go up as BYU did. Alabama’s bigs will likely have increased usage, and will have more formidable size on the interior to deal with as well.

“You know, if Duke or Arizona, whoever ends up winning decides they’re not going to give us some threes, that’s fine, too. Let’s get to the rim,” Oats said. “Now, the rim protection is going to be a little different. We’re going to have to figure out how to deal with that a little bit. Because obviously — I don’t want to pronounce it wrong, Khaman (Maluach) has a 9’8″ reach. So rim protection a little different. We’re going to have to do a really good job on the offensive side of the ball.”

Above all, Oats stressed the importance of locking in on the defensive end of the floor, knowing that leads to more offensive opportunities.

“The other thing is our defense is going to have to be really good because they both have very good offenses,” Oats said. “I don’t know that we’re going to repeat 51 threes attempted, but we’re going to have the guys ready to play the right way in my opinion and fresh. And if we get stops, it’s a lot easier to get out in transition. You can get some threes in transition, too.”

Alabama’s Elite Eight game against Duke will tip off at 7:49 p.m. CT on Saturday and will air on TBS/truTV.

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