Three players Nate Oats wants to see more from in the SEC Tournament

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama begins postseason play this weekend, heading up to Nashville, Tennessee for the SEC Tournament as the 3-seed, with a double-bye to the quarterfinals.

The Crimson Tide finished the regular season with an unbelievably big in, beating No. 1 Auburn on the road with a game-winning shot in overtime. The win helped Alabama snap a 2-game losing skid and build some positive momentum going into the postseason.

Though the win was huge, the Tide didn’t get an A-game from every single player on the roster. During his Wednesday press conference before leaving for Nashville, Alabama head coach Nate Oats named three players he wants to see more from in the team’s games this weekend.

“I think Jarin Stevenson is one that’s got a lot more than he’s been giving us,” Oats said. “I got to do a better job getting it out of him, putting him in positions to succeed. … Jarin’s a guy that’s guarded RJ Davis, he’s guarded (Josh) Hubbard, he’s guarded some of the best guards in the country. He can guard the one through four, even one through five depending on who your five is. Offensively he’s got a lot of upside, he’s been shooting it really well since December, driving it downhill, finishing at the rim.”

Just a few weeks ago, Stevenson put up 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting in a road win over Texas, and a few games later went 3-for-3 on 3-point attempts against Mississippi State at home. He closed the final three games just under his season average of 5.4.

Oats also pointed out the lack in recent production from Mo Dioubate, who’s been less effective than he usually is both around the rim and on the glass the past few games.

“I think Mo Dioubate is one that has shown what he’s capable of,” Oats said. “I think he hasn’t quite been as good as he could have been these last few weeks. We need, shoot, he won us the Grand Canyon game. He’s a guy that gives us something a lot different than pretty much anyone else on the roster. We need that out of him.

“There may be an SEC Tournament game, and NCAA Tournament game where he’s the only guy that can do what he does, and sparks us and gives us a win.”

Finally, Oats discussed guard Aden Holloway, who’s been much further below his typical production than the last two players. Holloway is the Tide’s third-leading scorer at 11.5 points per game, but has gone for eight combined points in his last two outings. It’s the first time he’s been held to single digits in back-to-back games since back in December.

“He’s got to be more aggressive. We’ve probably got to find some actions to get him going. He’s got to play a little bit better defense so we can keep him on the floor longer. A combination of all that,” Oats said. “The ball’s got to start moving a little more, to be honest with you. I think the ball’s been a little stagnant, sticky. The more it moves, the more open shots he gets. We’ve also played against pretty good defensive teams that have pretty good defensive guards, so that’s definitely part of it as well.”

Oats believes if Holloway, Dioubate and Stevenson can all play at a higher level than they have been lately, it greatly raises Alabama’s ceiling.

He also, however, acknowledged that ceiling doesn’t mean much this time of year.

“If we get all those guys playing their best basketball, we’ve got a pretty high ceiling,” Oats said. “But like I said, nobody really cares what your ceiling is, we’ve got to get some production done in these next three games here this weekend.”

The Crimson Tide will begin its run at an SEC Tournament championship on Friday night as it takes on the winner of 6-seed Kentucky and 11-seed Georgia/14-seed Oklahoma in the quarterfinals at roughly 8:30 p.m. CT.

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