On Saturday, after Alabama beat St. John's, Rick Pitino said that a team can't give up 103 points and win. If Nate Oats had said on Thursday night that a team can't have a 24-rebound deficit and win, he would have been even more correct than Pitino.
That was what happened to Alabama against Purdue. At the end, the scoreboard read Purdue 87, and Alabama 80. The Boilermakers outrebounded the Crimson Tide 52-28. Bad things happen to teams that get dominated on the glass. For example, with 19 offensive rebounds to Alabama's seven, Purdue scored 16 second-chance points to seven for the Crimson Tide. Purdue also outshot Alabama from outside the arc, 43% to 36%.
Braden Smith, always the offensive spark for Purdue, scored 29 points. He also shot more free throws, 12, than the entire Alabama basketball team, with 10.
If Oats gave a hard hat award after the game, he should have sent it to the Purdue locker room.
What Nate Oats said after the Alabama Basketball Loss
- "We didn't deserve to win."
- "We've got issues on the glass. ... Until we figure out how to make tougher plays, rebound the basketball at a higher level, we're gonna struggle beating the best teams in the country."
- "Braden Smith in the best point guard in the country."
- "They outrebounded us by 24. That's embarrassing...At the end of the day, the tougher team won tonight."
- "Their 5-foot-10 point guard had seven rebounds and our starting frontcourt had six combined."
- "To get outrebounded like we did and for Labaron to be at the line to tie it with about a minute go, we were fortunate to be in that spot."
Nate Oats knows that much of the success in rebounding comes from desire and effort. That Alabama has frontcourt weaknesses is no surprise. He has talked about the need to improve defensively and rebound better throughout the preseason.
Losing by seven points to a potential Final Four team is far from a disaster. Up next is Illinois in Chicago, followed by Gonzaga in Las Vegas. A Thursday night update of Ken Pomeroy's rankings had Illinois at No. 3 and the Zags at No. 4, just above Purdue at No. 5.
Shortly after the Purdue game ended, Oats challenged his team's toughness. The most important thing Oats said in the post-game was "Our guys are going to have to decide whether they want to have a good season, or whether they're just going to get out-toughed every game for the rest of the year." A gauntlet thrown down and not a moment too soon.
Note: Game data provided by StatBroadcast. Also, thanks to Katie Windham and Blake Byler for quotes.