Nate Oats wants Alabama to focus on 'winning the scoreboard' in rivalry matchup

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Rivalries are intense, and the intensity of the Alabama and Auburn basketball rivalry the past few years under head coaches Nate Oats and Bruce Pearl has been at level never before seen in this state.

The two fanbases already have a deep disdain for each other due to the history of the rivalry that spans across all sports, but the recent success of both programs has added an increased level of play to that hatred. That will especially be true on Saturday in the matchup between the No. 1 Tigers and the No. 2 Crimson Tide.

“There are rivalries no matter where you go,” Oats said during his Friday press conference. “This rivalry’s a little bit bigger, a little bit more on a national stage than Romulus-Belville was back into the day. But there’s an intensity that comes with rivalry games. I know our fanbase would much rather beat Auburn than anyone in the SEC, as would I.

“We’ve done a good job having these guys ready to play every game. It’s a natural inclination to have a little more intensity in this game even though we’re trying to play with max effort every game. I get it, we’ve been in big rivalries everywhere I’ve been. This is the biggest of the rivalries I’ve ever been in though.”

Oats didn’t shy away from the fact that rivalry games bring an attitude that could promote some extracurricular activities: an extra push after the whistle, an increased level of trash talk, a stare down after a big play that lasts a few seconds longer.

“I’ve been the head coach at various levels for a long time,” Oats said. “Maybe some of the games you’re favored in, you know it’s gonna turn into a fist fight, wrestling match. We had a brawl at Belville (High School) one time, threw my shoulder out trying to tackle somebody out of a fight. That was back then, hopefully we don’t have any of that. You get to Buffalo, had some wars with Kent State.”

The Alabama-Auburn rivalry has brought some of these moments as well. Two years ago in Coleman Coliseum, Alabama had multiple players ejected after leaving the bench during a scuffle on the opposite baseline between Jahvon Quinerly, Johni Broome and Wendell Green.

Headed into this matchup, Oats wants to see his team focus only on the things that help win basketball games.

“My point to all the teams all the time, and I’ve made it to these guys as well, we’re not interested in winning a boxing match, a football game, or a wrestling match,” Oats said. “Nobody wins – that doesn’t matter. There’s a score on the scoreboard, and the points are scored for the ball going through the rim, and we need to beat them on the scoreboard. All the other stuff, there’s no points for a takedown in wrestling, for a knockout, that’s not what we’re doing here. Let them try to win the boxing match, wrestling match, we’re gonna try to win the scoreboard.

“Anything that takes away from winning on the scoreboard is losing basketball. Retaliating to something dumb is losing basketball. Let the refs catch them doing it.”

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