Alabama basketball has had a tendency during the 2024-25 season to take its foot off the gas, particularly on the defensive end of the floor, when it has built a nice advantage. The term "playing with its food" comes to mind frequently, and Tide head coach Nate Oats has had enough of it.
Alabama led South Carolina 45-28 at halftime but gave up six quick points with four of those six coming directly at the rim. Following a turnover by Mark Sears and a foul by Jarin Stevenson, Oats made a complete line change, benching all five of his starters and putting in a fresh five off the bench.
After the game, Oats was asked about the decision and had this to say:
Nate Oats on benching the starting five to start the second half: "That's been building. We've had awful starts defensively in the second half. ... I'd had enough of it."
— Blake Byler (@blakebyler45) January 9, 2025
That wasn't the end of Oats' frustrations in the second half. Less than a minute later, Aden Holloway made a layup and then Alabama quickly gave up a runout dunk to South Carolina's Zachary Davis with the Tide falling asleep on defense.
Oats quickly called a timeout and was at midcourt ripping freshman Derrion Reid by the time the ball got through the net following the dunk.
That’s a coach right there. Love Nate Oats passion pic.twitter.com/zO2yJ8npzz
— MattBeGreat (@mattbegreatyt) January 9, 2025
That prompted another quick substitution with Oats inputting Houston Mallette for Reid, and Alabama going on a quick 8-2 run to push the lead to 20 points.
Oats is pushing the right buttons with the Crimson Tide as Alabama continues improving since an uneven beginning of the season. Alabama is now up to 8th overall in KenPom; the Tide still ranks No. 4 in offensive efficiency but has now moved up to No. 37 in defensive efficiency.
If you take away the abysmal performance on the defensive end on the road against North Dakota, Alabama has been much improved on the defensive end since the North Carolina game. If things keep trending in that direction, the Tide will reach its potential as one of the top teams in college basketball and be a real threat in March to win the whole thing.