Nate Oats enjoyed his 'chess match' against Mark Pope: 'This is not gonna be a bad loss for them.'

Nate Oats and Mark Pope are two of the best offensive minds in college basketball. Their brilliance was put on full display Saturday in Rupp Arena as Alabama and Kentucky combined to score 199 points in a 102-97 win for the Crimson Tide. Offensively (and defensively, if we’re being honest), this game was everything we expected it to be.

“Coach Pope knows what he’s doing,” Oats said postgame. “He also knew what he was dealing with. We had a little bit of a chess match going on out there at times.”

It certainly felt like a chess match too; two excellent basketball minds going head-to-head in a Top 10 intraconference matchup.

Alabama shot 45 percent from the field, nailed 13 three-pointers, and went 29-34 from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Kentucky’s shooting splits were just as good: 48 percent from the floor, 11 made three-pointers, and 16-20 shooting from the stripe. The Crimson Tide having a +13 advantage from the line ended up being the difference in a game that featured 46 foul calls. Defense was hard to come by, but we can credit that to borderline unstoppable offenses from both benches.

The Big Blue Nation would prefer to see that final score in their team’s favor. It’s obviously tough to win every game though, especially in the SEC. Kentucky entered the Alabama game with an 11-0 record at home and a 5-0 record against ranked opponents. Both of those streaks came to an end on Saturday.

But Oats, who was rumored as a possible candidate to replace John Calipari at UK, sees the same vision that athletic director Mitch Barnhart did when he hired Pope back in April.

“I thought it was a great fit,” Oats said of Kentucky hiring Pope. “He played here, he knows what this place is about. From afar, I’ve seen some of his teams at BYU play. You’re seeing his offensive product, he’s gonna be able to get players here at Kentucky.

“When they hired him, it made total sense. His introductory — I don’t know if you’d call it press conference with the way they rolled him in. That was pretty cool. I think Mark is a great guy. Seems to me like the state’s embraced him. They obviously lost today but we’re a good team. This is not gonna be a bad loss for them when it’s all said and done. They’re a very good team. This is their first loss at home since he’s been here. He’s done an unbelievable job, they’re playing a great style of basketball, I thought it made sense. I’m happy for him.”

Pope’s exciting style of basketball has translated to on-court results with a fan base eager to fill Rupp Arena every single night, no matter the opponent. Saturday against Alabama just wasn’t Kentucky’s game, but the excitement around this program is still incredibly high.

“I think Coach Pope’s done a really good job kinda rejuvenating everybody,” Oats said.