Nate Oats was not pleased with Alabama’s effort on defense in its 117-95 loss to Kentucky on Saturday night.

Alabama has had its issues on the defensive end of the floor at times this season, but the loss the Wildcats represented a new rock-bottom statistically. Oats remarked that all the questions about Alabama’s defense have been answered — just not in a way the Tide would like.

“Kentucky was ready to play today, and we weren’t. Cal had his guys ready to go, I didn’t,” Oats said. “They looked great. We looked awful. Our defensive intensity was not good. I told our guys after the game, we’ve had question marks about our defense all year. Those question marks are completely erased. Everybody knows that we don’t really guard at this point because I thought our effort stunk.”

Alabama allowed Kentucky to score 1.46 points per possession — an astronomical number to give up, even on the road against an elite offense like Kentucky. Oats acknowledged Kentucky’s strength on offense, but said the Tide will have to be better defensively if they’re going to win “big games.”

“I the defense isn’t fixable, we’re not gonna be able to win any big games,” Oats added. “I don’t know that it’s fixable to the point where we can be like we were last year where we were third in the country. It’s past the point of doing that. But maybe we can hold somebody to a 1.1, 1.2 instead of a 1.46, and hopefully, our offense is a 1.2 or 1.3, which that puts a lot of pressure on your offense every night out. But our offense has been pretty good, even tonight. ”

Alabama is still tied for 1st with Tennessee atop the SEC standings despite the loss. The Tide will play at Ole Miss on Wednesday night.

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