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What Nate Oats said after Alabama dominates Texas A&M for 2nd SEC Tournament championship in 3 years
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Alabama and Texas A&M met in Sunday’s SEC Tournament final, 8 days after the Aggies defeated the Crimson Tide 67-61 in College Station.
This time, the Tide came out on top. They held the Aggies to under 30 percent shooting from the floor — and just 5-for-15 from 3-point range — in an 82-63 win at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Alabama also held a 50-37 rebounding edge.
Nate Oats and the Tide are now projected as the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 overall seed thanks in part to Kansas’s blowout loss to Texas in Saturday’s Big 12 championship game. They’ll learn their 1st-round opponent, as well as their path to the Final Four, during Sunday’s selection show when the tournament field is unveiled. And after 2021’s Sweet 16 run, Alabama fans hope that this season culminates in the program’s first national championship.
Here’s what Oats said following the game as he met the media after the Tide’s victory over the Aggies:
Nate Oats: "It was a hard-fought contest. Hard to open the thing up. They're a tough, gritty team. We just lost to them eight days ago. We challenged our guards to do better. … I thought we did a great job on some of the opposing teams' best players this tournament."
— Charlie Potter (@Charlie_Potter) March 12, 2023
Nate Oats: Sweeping SEC regular season/tournament two of the last three years "just speaks to the level of players we've been able to get (because) you don't win these things without players."
"We've been been fortunate to have the best player on the floor every time we played."
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) March 12, 2023
Nate Oats comparing the 2023 defense to the 2021 defense: "We don't have Herb Jones, but we have Charles Bediako, we have much better rim protection."
— Blake Byler (@blakebyler45) March 12, 2023
Nate Oats mentioned how special it is to win 2 SEC titles in 3 years. Said Quinerly a huge part of both teams but completely different teams that were able to get this far.
— Michelle Knezovic (@MichelleKnezov) March 12, 2023
Nate Oats: "We got the March version of Quinerly this week, for sure."
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) March 12, 2023
#Alabama HC Nate Oats:
“You can’t win these games without players. We were fortunate to have the best player in the country on the court every game.”
— Austin Hannon (@austinhannon_) March 12, 2023
Nate Oats "If you don't play the best you can't beat the best. We went on the road and beat Houston they'll be a 1 seed"
— Michelle Knezovic (@MichelleKnezov) March 12, 2023
Poor North Carolina. Nate Oats making his team's No. 1 overall seed case, rattling off Alabama's best wins.
"The Carolina win doesn't look as good now. But they were No. 1 when we beat them."
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) March 12, 2023
Nate Oats: "I think we've got a really good chance to win [the national title]."
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) March 12, 2023
Nate Oats was asked three keys to winning the national championship:
1. Limiting turnovers
2. Defensive intensity
3. Generating enough "margin plays"He cited margin plays as things like the free throws, transition points.
He added that shooting well is not one of those keys.
— Blake Byler (@blakebyler45) March 12, 2023
Nate Oats said he challenged Noah Clowney at halftime, who was a "zero" with no points, no blue-collar points and no rebounds.
"Shoot, in the second half he had 11 rebounds," Oats said.
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) March 12, 2023
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
