What Nate Oats wants to see during Alabama's tough, 3-game stretch

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men’s basketball team is gearing up for a difficult stretch of games away from campus that currently features matchups with three top-10 opponents.

The Crimson Tide will face No. 4 Purdue on Saturday, Dec. 9, in Toronto, No. 10 Creighton on Saturday, Dec. 16, in Omaha and No. 1 Arizona on Wednesday, Dec. 20, in Phoenix. It is yet another gauntlet of games for Alabama, which is exactly what head coach Nate Oats wants.

“Starting a tough, 3-game stretch, but we like scheduling hard,” Oats said. “I think we get our guys up for the games. We get deficiencies exposed, and we can work on them. Purdue is arguably the best team in the country, and if they’re not, it’s probably Arizona, who we also play in this 3-game stretch. I think it’s going to be good for our guys.”

Alabama’s next three opponents rank among the top 10 nationally in defensive efficiency and the top 20 in offensive efficiency, per KenPom. Purdue is among the top 10 in both – fourth on offense (121.3 points scored per 100 possessions) and eighth on defense (91.7). Creighton is ninth on defense (92.2) and 16th on offense (117.7), while Arizona is fifth on defense (90.8) and 13th on offense (118.4). For comparison, Alabama ranks second in offensive efficiency (122.0), but the Tide is down to 70th in defensive efficiency (99.4).

The upcoming stretch tips off tomorrow (12:30 p.m. CT on FOX) against a Purdue team that has won 31 straight non-conference regular season games, which marks the longest streak in the country. Over the past four seasons, the Boilermakers have claimed 84 wins, which ranks No. 9 in Division I, and right behind Purdue is Alabama at No. 10 with 82 victories.

A literal big reason for the Boilermakers’ success of late has been the play of center Zach Edey, who is one of the best players in the country. Edey is leading his team in scoring (23.7 points per game), rebounding (11.2 rpg) and blocks (26). Rim protection has been a bit of an issue for Alabama’s defense early this season, and it can’t afford any lapses in Toronto.

“Edey presents some real problems,” Oats said. “He’s big. He’s pretty much impossible to guard one-on-one. So you’re constantly having to trap him, play out of it. There’s been a few teams that maybe tried to do it without trapping him, but he’s very hard to guard one-on-one. And he’s also a good passer, and they’ve done a good job putting shooting all around him.

“There’s a reason they’re one of the best teams in the country and maybe the best team in the country. We’ve got our hands full here up in Toronto.”

Oats is 15-16 against AP Top 25 Poll opponents and 5-4 against top-10 foes in his tenure at Alabama. His Crimson Tide squad will face three more of those over the next two weeks, and he is hoping to learn a lot about his 2023-24 squad during this brutal stretch of games.

“We really need to know how good we can be on defense, to be honest with you,” Oats said. “Are we going to step up to the challenge? When things go wrong, do we have the fortitude about us to still get stops? If shots aren’t going, can we still hang in there? 

“You go back to last year’s team, one of our signature wins that carried us along the way was the road win at Houston. We were down 15 in the second half, a lot of things weren’t going well. That team was mentally tough enough to hang in there, keep fighting. Our defense kept us in there, and we came back and won the game on the road against one of the best teams in the country.

“We haven’t seen that yet out of this group. I think it’s in there. Will we show it? Now, we don’t have three road games, but we’ve got a neutral with Purdue, we’ve got a road game with Creighton and we’ve got a semi-road game – it’s essentially a road game – against Arizona in Phoenix. We’ll definitely be in some hostile environments.

“Do we have the mental toughness when things aren’t going well to continue to guard, stick with the game plan, don’t get discouraged and then just hang in there and see what happens? Our offense is good enough to come back if our defense will keep us in the game. I’m really looking for how good can our defense get against some of these top offensive teams in the country.”

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