Nate Oats notes that Gonzaga had more ‘blue collar points’ than Alabama in Saturday’s loss

Alabama scored 90 points on the No. 15 team in the nation Saturday afternoon in an exciting college basketball game between 2 powerhouses. Only problem; Gonzaga scored 100.

The Bulldogs were scoring wherever and whenever they wanted Saturday afternoon. Drew Timme was especially unstoppable in the paint, scoring 29 points on 12-18 shooting with 10 rebounds.

Gonzaga had 11 more hustle points than Alabama Saturday, something that head coach Nate Oats will not stand for. “Blue-Collar points” are a scoring system under Oats where deflections, steals, blocks, rebounds, etc are measured; essentially a measure of doing all the little things right and having a working-class mentality towards the game.

In short, Oats thinks Alabama just has to play harder.

Oats said Gonzaga had 11 more blue collar points than Alabama.

“We have to play harder.”

— Blake Byler (@blakebyler45) December 17, 2022

There were some positives from the game. Alabama freshman Brandon Miller continued to play like a superstar, totaling a career-high 36 points against the Zags. He was lights out and played strong defense as well.

But it was in a losing effort. Alabama is still in good shape, sitting at 9-2 on the season with a pair of ranked loses to Connecticut and of course Gonzaga.

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.