What lessons Alabama basketball learned from two preseason losses

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men’s basketball team will tip off its 2023-24 campaign on Monday, Nov. 6, when it welcomes Morehead State to Coleman Coliseum. But the Crimson Tide has played in two preseason games to get ready for another tough non-conference slate.

Alabama first played TCU in a closed scrimmage in Birmingham on Sunday, Oct. 22, and lost to the Horned Frogs, 85-81. It was the second straight preseason loss to TCU (96-66 in Fort Worth in 2022), and the Tide fell behind early with the Frogs leading by as many as 16 midway through the first half and trailed for 34:33 of the 40 minutes during the secret scrimmage.

Head coach Nate Oats shared the lessons he learned from the loss to TCU at Samford.

“We try to take major themes out of every time we play,” Oats said Friday. “To get into the TCU one, our biggest thing was our start. We started out awful. We were down 30-14. We’re doing a lot of teaching, a lot of new guys, transfers. We’ve got to get back to like even if you screw up – and you are going to screw up a bunch – we have to play hard the whole time. 

“So effort, intensity, ready to go right out of the gate were major themes against TCU, which, ironically enough, that was kind of a theme against TCU last year when they killed us. And they do a good job of making sure they’re ready to do that.”

One week later, Alabama traveled to Winston-Salem, N.C., to take on Wake Forest in a charity exhibition game and lost 88-80. The Tide led by as many as 19 points and held a 52-39 lead at halftime before the Deacons clawed their way back. It used a 24-3 run to take a lead it would not relinquish and that ballooned to 10 in two separate instances. Alabama went cold in the second half, shooting 30.3 percent from the field and 10 percent from three.

“I thought we had a lot better start. I thought we played harder,” Oats said. “I thought it was more can you maintain it? We get up 19, give up a 6-0 run in the last 40 seconds of the half. It was more we not only need a great first four minutes, we need a great last four minutes each half and then a great first four of the second half. That last four of the first half, first four of the second half, we were not good. 

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“And then our rim reads, we had guys getting downhill to the rim and just making poor decisions. So can we get the ball moving? Can we spray it out? We were 1-for-10 from three in the second half against Wake. Do we need to take more? Do we need to get better ones? And 5-for-20 at the rim. Just better reads. Play the full 40, can’t relax when you get 19.”

Previewing the Tide’s season opener against Morehead State, Oats feels like his fifth team at Alabama has learned from its two preseason losses before its first game that will matter.

“I think we’ll be ready to go Monday,” Oats said. “Our guys have been really good all week.”

Freshman forward Sam Walters scored 42 total points in the contests against TCU and Wake Forest, trailing only Aaron Estrada (43). He echoed Oats’ thoughts on the early takeaways.

“We have to start and finish better and don’t play the score, continue to play hard throughout the whole game,” Walters said. “I feel like we did that, especially in the Wake Forest game – up by a big margin and we just kind of slacked off and didn’t play to our potential. I think those were good lessons to learn in the preseason because, obviously, those games don’t matter. 

“So I feel like we’re ready for the season, ready to play a game on Monday.”

The Alabama-Morehead State game will tip off at 7 p.m. CT and stream on SEC Network+.

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