The Alabama basketball team has now lost four out of their last six games as they fell at home on Wednesday against #5 Florida. The good news for the Crimson Tide is that these four losses have all come against top-15 teams. Three of them were against top-10 teams. It’s not like Alabama is losing to bad teams. The bad news, however, is that these are the kinds of the teams that you need to beat to win a championship. Head coach Nate Oats has some concerns after the 99-94 defeat.
There is no shame in losing games against Missouri, Auburn, Tennessee and Florida. The Crimson Tide have even mixed in wins against #17 Kentucky and #24 Mississippi State during this stretch. That’s just life in the SEC this year. Nate Oats isn’t worried about the losses, but he is worried about how the Crimson Tide are losing these games.
“I’m not panicked that we’re losing, it’s more concerning how we lost,” Oats said after the game, according to a post from Blake Byler. “Getting out-rebounded by 15, not getting the 50/50 balls. Florida had more pop, more energy, that’s more concerning to me.”
Oats doesn’t seem to think that his team is controlling the controllables right now, and that is a big problem. Florida won this game by just five points, so some extra effort from the Alabama basketball team could’ve been the difference in the game.
Alabama has been right there in all four of these losses. They aren’t getting severely outplayed or anything like that. Controlling the things that they can control will go a long way down the stretch and into the postseason.
Against Florida, the Crimson Tide were in the lead in the second half before giving up a big run. The Gators ended up leading by double digits in the second half, but Alabama was able to make it a bit closer in the final minutes of the game. Rebounding was definitely a big reason why the Crimson Tide lost, and that often comes down to effort.
Things aren’t getting any easier for Alabama as their final game of the regular season will go down on Saturday on the road against Auburn. The Tigers are currently ranked #1 in the country, and they have already clinched the SEC regular season title.
After Saturday’s big rivalry clash, the SEC Tournament will go down next week, and then the big dance will be here. Alabama shouldn’t end up getting anything worse than a two seed in the NCAA Tournament, but if things go their way before Selection Sunday, they could find themselves on the one line.
The post Nate Oats reveals what concerns him amid Alabama basketball’s losing skid appeared first on ClutchPoints.
