Nate Oats stresses importance of Texas A&M game in competing for SEC title
Southeastern Conference teams have only played two games in league play this season, and there are just five teams left without a loss. Two of those teams, Alabama and Texas A&M, are set to square off in Reed Arena on Saturday night.
Alabama head coach Nate Oats is aware of the league standings, and as the coach of a team with the goal of winning the SEC regular season title, he’s aware of the importance of the upcoming game.
“They’re one of the better teams in the SEC. They’ve won nine straight, top 10 in the country,” Oats said. “I think it’s the first time they’ve had two top 10 teams play there at A&M, so they’re gonna be ready. I’m sure their fans are gonna be ready. Last time we were down there they had a great environment.
“The game’s gonna go a long ways to who’s gonna be in the conversation for winning the league championship. There’s five teams that are 2-0 and we’re two of them. They’ve got the third longest win streak in the country and we’ve got either the sixth or seventh longest win streak in the country. It’s gonna be a good game.”
Texas A&M has started the season 13-2 and ranked No. 10 in the AP Poll. The Aggies won their first two SEC games, beating Texas by 20 at home last Saturday and beating No. 17 Oklahoma by two points on the road Wednesday night, while missing their best player, Wade Taylor IV.
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“They’re one of the toughest teams in the country year in and year out,” Oats said. “Buzz [Williams] does an incredible job getting his guys to play hard. I think they’ve outrebounded everybody but one. That’s kind of their calling card, but they’ve gotten more skilled throughout all the positions since last year.”
Toughness embodies how Texas A&M plays, with the Aggies ranking first in the country in offensive rebounding rate. They also rank No. 31 nationally in forced turnover rate defensively, an area that has given Alabama a ton of difficulties this season. Oats explained how those areas will be particularly challenging for his team tomorrow night.
They’re a tough cover on defense, their defense is top 10 in the country,” Oats said. “They turn people over. We’ve had an issue with turnovers too many times this year, so we’ve got to protect the ball better than what we have too many times this year. They’re tough guys. We’ve been able to save ourselves with our poor shooting from three with how many offensive rebounds we’ve gotten. They roll out some tough guys that aren’t just gonna hand us O boards. We’re gonna be in a dog fight down there, and we know it.”
The game between No. 5 Alabama and No. 10 Texas A&M will tip off Saturday night at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN.
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