Nate Oats expecting a "war" in sold-out Coleman Coliseum

Kentucky hasn’t performed well on the road this season, and tomorrow could be the biggest test yet. The Cats face No. 7 Alabama in a sold-out Coleman Coliseum at 1 p.m. ET. It will be Nate Oats’ sixth time playing Kentucky as head coach of the Crimson Tide. He’s 2-3 against the Cats, 1-1 in Tuscaloosa. So far this year, Alabama has only lost to UConn and Gonzaga, both ranked teams, and is undefeated at home, most recently beating Ole Miss 84-62.

“I’m looking forward to the game,” Oats told reporters today. “We’ve had big games here. I think this one will be as big as any this year. This is a big game against a team that was picked to compete for a national championship and it’s SEC play. We’re trying to compete for an SEC Championship. It’s at home. We need to figure out a way to win. It’s not easy. They’re a very good team.”

Monday marks the start of Alabama’s spring semester. Junior guard Mark Sears, who transferred from Ohio, hopes students pack Coleman Coliseum to offset whatever Blue gets in.

“Especially, I’ve heard their fans travel so it’ll be really good, especially it being a home game and the fans coming back from break. Great energy in there. We’re really looking forward to that.”

John Calipari often jokes that whenever Kentucky comes to town, it’s t-shirt night, cup night, ball night, etc. Tomorrow will be Rally Towel Day at Coleman Coliseum.

⏰ Get to Coleman early
🏳 Grab your rally towel
🔊 Be loud

No. 7 @AlabamaMBB vs Kentucky Saturday at 12 p.m. #RollTide pic.twitter.com/6Qholv5t4u

— Alabama Athletics (@UA_Athletics) January 5, 2023

Oats: “It’s gonna be a war tomorrow”

Alabama has one of the more impressive resumes in the country, with wins over then-No. 12 Michigan State, No. 1 North Carolina, No. 1 Houston, and No. 21 Mississippi State. They are the first team since 1965-66 (Duke) with multiple wins over the AP No. 1 team before the New Year and feature one of the top freshmen in the country in Brandon Miller. Oats expects that Alabama’s No. 7 ranking will only further fuel Kentucky’s desire to pull off an upset, which the Cats’ resume could really use.

“I think they’ll probably be pretty motivated coming in here with what we’re ranked. It’s typically the other way around, where Alabama would be the unranked team and they’d be the ranked team. So my guess is they’re gonna have a chip on their shoulder that certainly helps with the defensive end.”

This year’s Alabama team is still known for shooting threes, leading the league with 10 per game, but they also rebound and hold their own on the defensive end. The Crimson Tide rank No. 1 in the country in rebounds per game (46.5) and defensive rebounds per game (32.5), while also ranking No. 5 in offensive rebounds per game (13.9).

“Our players have done a great job putting ourselves in a spot where we are the number seven team in the country,” Oats said. “And Kentucky’s got some really talented players who are gonna play us really tough. And they’ve dropped a few that maybe they wish they wouldn’t have dropped and they’re trying to fight and claw their way back in it and it’s gonna be a war tomorrow.”