When Nate Oats criticized two Alabama basketball veterans during his press conference on Friday before the Auburn game, he did not hold back.
Nate Oats never keeps his mouth shut. Like famed football coach Nick Saban, the Alabama basketball coach is not afraid to voice his opinions and frequently uses the media to communicate with his squad. The distinction between the two is that Oats’ messages are never subtly conveyed.
Twenty-four hours before the most important Iron Bowl of Basketball in series history, Oats sent a direct message to two of his seasoned leaders on Friday. Oats responded as follows when asked what must be done to reduce turnovers, especially when playing Auburn, one of the top defensive teams in NCAA basketball:
“We need Mark Sears and Grant Nelson to stop turning the ball over. That is what needs to happen.” Alabama has turned it over 17.7% of its possessions this season, which is below 200 in D-1. In conference play, that percentage has increased to 18.7%, which puts them 12th out of 16 SEC teams. Sears has had 21 assists and 22 turnovers in the last four games. Before only turning it over three times in Tuesday’s victory over Texas, Sears turned it over six times against Arkansas, six times against Georgia, and seven times against Mississippi State. Nelson, despite not playing as much as he did the previous season, has turned it over multiple times in eight of Alabama’s last ten games, including a five-turnover night in Alabama’s only SEC loss at home against Ole Miss.
Off the dribble, Nelson may be a matchup issue. He has trouble maintaining his dribble and avoiding mistakes when he gets a head of steam, but he is tough to handle when he goes to the basket. At 20.0, he has the team’s highest turnover rate.
Sears frequently finds himself in difficulties beneath the basket because to his propensity to overdribble. He continues to be Alabama’s greatest player at driving to the basket and beating his defender off the dribble, but he tends to force things too much, which has resulted in a sharp increase in turnovers lately.
Oats may try moving Sears off the ball a bit more and passing the ball to Labaron Philon or Aden Holloway, but it is clear and understandable that he has more faith in Sears.
At a percentage of 12.6%, which is by far the best on the squad, Holloway has been fantastic at preventing turnovers.
Oats is an excellent coach for this club, and he has no problem criticizing the team’s leaders in particular. Going forward, Sears and Nelson will probably react significantly.
