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Nate Oats discusses controversial ending to Alabama-Houston game
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Nate Oats and the No. 6 Alabama men’s basketball team are 8-1 after an 83-82 win over Houston on Saturday.
Of course, it’s what happened in the latter stages that garnered headlines as J.D. Davison made a key block on a potential game-winner as the clock ran down. The Cougars were incensed as they thought a goal-tending should have been called in that instance.
That made for a great deal of discussion during Oats’ weekly radio show on Monday. During the broadcast, Oats said he spoke to Mike Eades, the SEC’s men’s basketball officials coordinator, who confirmed that goal-tending indeed should not have been called.
Nate Oats said on his radio show tonight that he spoke to SEC coordinator basketball officials Mike Eades, who also coordinates AAC officials, and was told the no-call for goal-tending was correct at the end of the Alabama-Houston game.
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) December 14, 2021
Oats also drew criticism for his actions post-game as he stood with an outstretched hand toward mid-court while Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson sought an explanation from officials, leading Dan Dakich to call him a “punk”. Sampson would later call Oats and SEC commissioner Greg Byrne on Sunday to apologize. Oats, for his part, said that he “wasn’t trying to show (Sampson) up”.
We’ll see what the Crimson Tide’s next game has in store. They visit Memphis on Tuesday for a 9 p.m. ET tip at FedEx Forum.
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.
