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Nate Oats credits Grant Nelson for work in gym after big day vs. Kentucky
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Nate Oats needed Grant Nelson — and his entire Alabama team, in fact — to bounce back quickly from a 74-64 home loss to Ole Miss on Jan. 14, just the 3rd loss of the season for the Crimson Tide.
On Saturday, the No. 4 Tide answered the call in a 102-97 win over No. 8 Kentucky in Lexington. After going 3-of-7 from the free throw line and putting up just 9 points against the Rebels, Nelson was terrific, leading all scorers with 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting and a 9-of-10 day from the stripe.
Nelson’s improvement was due to a couple of busy days in the gym, said Nate Oats. According to the Tuscaloosa News’ Chase Goodbread, Nelson shot 100 free throws on both Thursday and Friday.
“It’s not rocket science,” Oats said, according to Tide Illustrated’s Jack Knowlton. “You spend time in the gym, you make shots.”
Nelson wasn’t the only one to struggle from the line on Tuesday: the Tide was a collective 19-of-26. On Saturday, they finished 29-of-34.
All in all, it was a much better effort from Alabama, who improved to 15-3 overall and 4-1 in the SEC. It is back in action on Tuesday as it hosts Vanderbilt.
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.
