Nate Oats shares what he was ‘not happy’ about in Alabama’s win over South Carolina
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Alabama largely cruised to an 89-75 win over South Carolina on Saturday night, as the Crimson Tide picked up their fourth straight win in the SEC thanks to a balanced scoring effort that saw 3 players finish with 19 or more points.
But while most coaches would be more than pleased if their side statistically dominated the other like Alabama did, Nate Oats had one key negative point that he emphasized to the media postgame.
Gamecocks guard Meechie Johnson came into this matchup as one of the SEC’s top scorers in averaging 16.7 points per game. The former Ohio State transfer was held largely in check during the first half, but he exploded during the second.
“The one thing I was not happy at all about was our defense on Meechie Johnson in the second half,” Oats said. “He had two [points] at the half. We told those guys he’s coming. We saw it when he played Texas, and sure enough, he was coming and he ended up with 24 in the second half.
We did not do a good job,” Oats continued. “I thought multiple guys didn’t play him the way we were supposed to. Guys on the help side weren’t doing what they were supposed to be doing.”
Johnson ended up making 8-of-17 shots from the floor and also assisted on 4 baskets.
Parker is currently the sports editor for the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
