Tag: Grant Nelson

What Nate Oats had to say after Alabama basketball toppled Kentucky

Nate Oats singled out two Alabama players for getting back into the gym and putting in extra work after the Crimson Tide’s loss to Ole Miss.

The No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide went on the road and defeated the No. 8 Kentucky Wildcats, 102-97, Saturday at Rupp Arena.

The Crimson Tide’s performance was a lot better than it was during their 74-64 loss to Ole Miss on Tuesday — a loss that drew a stern lecture from coach Nate Oats to Alabama players.

Oats had reason to be more upbeat after Saturday’s win in Lexington, which saw Grant Nelson score 25 points and Mark Sears finish with 24. Alabama’s free-throw shooting, something Oats bemoaned after the Ole Miss loss, was much better against the Wildcats; Alabama made 29 of its 34 foul shots (85 percent) vs. Kentucky.

RELATED: Best photos of Alabama’s huge road win over Kentucky basketball

“I told our guys after the loss Tuesday that we didn’t deserve to win with our preparation going into the game and with our effort in the game,” Oats said following Alabama’s over Kentucky. “We need to deserve to win from now on, and it better start with guys putting so much time and effort in that they’re just not going to surrender.”

Oats said that two Alabama players in particular spent more time in the gym following the loss to Ole Miss.

“Grant Nelson came out ready to go and had 10 of our first 20 at the beginning of the game,” Oats said. “He goes 3-of-7 at the free-throw line Tuesday night and then he got in the gym and worked. We were able to make small corrections to his shot, get him some confidence by putting some work in.

“I think the past two days, he finished his individual workouts going 90 of 100 (on Thursday) and then 91 of 100 (Friday). Got some confidence, steps up, and goes 9 of 10. He was shooting 90 percent in his practices and goes 90 percent in the game when we need him.”

Freshman Labaron Philon was also big for Alabama, adding 15 points on 4-of-10 shots from the field. Philon was 3-of-5 from behind the arc and sank all four of his foul shots, including two with less than a minute to play to push the Crimson Tide’s lead over Kentucky to eight.

“Labaron spent a lot of time in the gym, and he goes 3-of-5,” Oats said. “It’s not rocket science. You spend time in the gym and you make shots. You spend time in the gym and you make your free throws.

Nate Oats shouts out Nick Saban after big win at Kentucky

Oats referenced the Alabama football legend and said that he hopes the Crimson Tide’s loss to Ole Miss can be a teaching moment.

“I’ve tried to study Coach Saban in football,” Oats said. “You go look at most of his championship teams and they took a loss early. (Saban) got them focused and locked in. I think that loss to Ole Miss got us refocused. This was a completely different team than the one that played Ole Miss.

“If we learn the lessons we needed to in that loss Tuesday and we don’t forget them for the remainder of the year, it may have been the best thing to happen to us. We’ve just got to make sure this was not a one-game deal. We’ve got to continue to do the things we’ve done since Tuesday night.”

Here’s everything else Oats said in his postgame press conference after Alabama’s big win over Kentucky.

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Never a doubt: Alabama crushes Oklahoma in blowout to open SEC play

Alabama goes over 100 points and dominates Oklahoma in the SEC opener.

The Alabama Crimson Tide made sure the Oklahoma Sooners got a rude welcome to SEC play in front of a sellout crowd at Coleman Coliseum Saturday night.

The fifth-ranked Tide were firing on all cylinders in a 107-79 rout of the previously unbeaten and 10th-ranked Sooners, playing in their first head-to-head SEC basketball contest.

The Tide (12-2 overall, 1-0 SEC) won their conference opener by getting a complete-game, 40-minute effort in dominating fashion. Alabama had six players finish in double figures, including Mark Sears with 22 points and freshman Labaron Philon with 16.

Alabama led 48-29 at halftime, and the 28-point lead at the final buzzer tied their largest of the game.

The Tide got off to a strong start by taking a 17-10 lead in the first eight minutes of the night and went up by double digits when Sears made a perfect dish to Grant Nelson for a two-handed dunk with 8:14 to go in the half, putting Alabama ahead 27-15.

When Philon made his second 3-pointer of the half, it made it 30-16 for Alabama’s biggest lead to that point. The Crimson Tide would only stretch the lead from there.

Philon led the team with 10 points at halftime. Clifford Omoruyi had a big first half as well with eight points on 4-4 shooting to go with three rebounds and a block. Omoruyi, a Rutgers transfer, would finish the night with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Nelson finished with 12 points for Alabama, freshman Derrion Reid had 11, and Aden Holloway added 10. Holloway’s 3-pointer with 2:40 to play in the game got the Tide to the 100-point margin for the fourth time this season — and the second game in a row.

From the field, Alabama shot 50 percent (38-of-76) and was 9-for-29 from behind the arc. The Crimson Tide crushed the Sooners (13-1) on the boards all night, finishing with a 51-26 edge in rebounding. Alabama also dominated in bench points, 38-5.

Alabama schedule 2025

The Crimson Tide will head to Columbia to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks (10-4) at 6 p.m. CT Wednesday. South Carolina lost 85-50 at No. 16 Mississippi State on Saturday. Wednesday’s game will be televised on SEC Network.

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Instant Recap: Alabama survives massive upset bid at North Dakota for close road win

Alabama survives North Dakota. Here’s how it happened.

The Alabama Crimson Tide got a much tougher fight than anyone expected Wednesday night in the state of North Dakota.

Pushed to the brink by a career-high 40 points from North Dakota shooting guard Treysen Eaglestaff, Alabama survived with a 97-90 win in nonconference play over the Fighting Hawks at Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Forks.

Thirteen first-half Alabama turnovers gave North Dakota a shocking 38-35 halftime lead over the No. 6 team in the nation. That included a 3-of-10 start from the field by Alabama in the game’s first seven minutes. UND jumped out to an 11-6 lead they would eventually stretch to nine on one of Eaglestaff’s many 3-pointers.

In the second half, the Tide started to roll by taking a 58-47 lead as part of a 13-0 run that included a steal and a dunk from freshman Labaron Philon.

It was nothing short of fitting that home state product Grant Nelson — the main reason for Alabama’s trip to Grand Forks — was a big reason for the Tide’s second-half surge. Nelson would finish the night tied for the team-high in points with 23, including a dunk with 8:40 to play in regulation.

Even so, closing out the Fighting Hawks proved to be an all-but-impossible task for Nelson and the Crimson Tide.

North Dakota refused to go away and tied the game at 78-78 with just over four minutes to play. But after Eli King drained a 3-pointer that tied it at 85-all with two minutes to go, Nelson put Alabama back ahead for good on a jump shot before adding a pair of clutch free throws to extend the lead to 89-85.

Nelson, who transferred to Alabama from North Dakota State ahead of the 2023-24 season, got the rebound when Eaglestaff missed from downtown with just over a minute to play. He also got the offensive board when Mark Sears missed what would have been a dagger from 3-point range, forcing North Dakota to begin fouling.

Mo Dioubate sank four foul shots in the final minute to help Alabama close out the victory. Nelson added 10 rebounds as part of a double-double, and Sears finished with 23 points on 7-of-14 shots from the field to help the Tide survive what would have been the biggest upset of the year in college basketball.

Eaglestaff’s 40 points for North Dakota included eight 3-pointers. He finished the night 15-of-30 from the field .

With the win, Alabama improved to 9-2 overall. North Dakota fell to 4-9 but will feel better about their chances in Summit League play after taking the No. 6 team in the country down to the wire.

RELATED: Instant reactions to Alabama’s close victory at North Dakota

Alabama basketball schedule 2024-25

The Crimson Tide return to Coleman Coliseum to face the Kent State Golden Flashes (8-2) Sunday. Tipoff is scheduled for noon CT. The game will be televised on SEC Network.

Alabama basketball overcomes adversity to beat Arkansas State

Alabama survives a challenging test from a gritty Arkansas State team to improve to 2-0.

The No. 2 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide overcame a first-half foul fest and a cold shooting night in a 88-79 win over the Arkansas State Red Wolves in nonconference play Friday night at Coleman Coliseum.

At halftime, Alabama (2-0) had let a 16-point first-half lead dwindle to just three at 43-40. A total of 31 fouls were charged to the two teams by referee Pat Adams and crew before the buzzer sounded at intermission.

In the second half, Arkansas State (1-1) tied the game at 68-all with seven minutes to play. But Alabama managed to pull away thanks to an 11-2 run that was capped by freshman Derrion Reed’s dunk with 2:54 left. That extended the Crimson Tide lead to nine at 81-72.

Mark Sears led Alabama (2-0) with 19 points. Sears went 0-for-5 from 3-point range and was 4-of-12 from the field. As a team, Alabama shot just 40.9 percent vs. the 63 percent it hit from in the season opener against UNC Asheville on Monday. They were 6-of-31 from behind the arc.

Moreover, the Tide struggled from the charity stripe, making only 63.6 percent of its free throws (28-of-44).

Senior forward Grant Nelson, freshman Labaron Philon, and Rutgers transfer Clifford Omoruyi all had 12 points behind Sears. Nelson added six rebounds in 12 minutes of action as he eases his way back into playing time from a minutes restriction stemming from an abdominal injury.

Alabama returns to action on Monday when the McNeese State Cowboys, led by former LSU Tigers coach Will Wade, visits Coleman Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on SEC Network.

Two Alabama players named to 2024-25 Naismith Award preseason watch list

Two Alabama players named to preseason watch list for college basketball’s top individual honor.

The preseason honors continue to roll in for Alabama Crimson Tide standout Mark Sears, as the guard was named to the watch list for the Naismith Player of the Year. In addition to Sears, forward Grant Nelson was also named to the preseason watch list for the award.

College basketball’s top individual honor, the Naismith Trophy is presented annually to the top player in the sport, and has been won each of the last two seasons by former Purdue center Zach Edey.

With the Purdue star having since moved on the NBA as well, it means that there will be a new winner this season, and Sears is a popular preseason pick to do just that.

The preseason SEC Player of the Year, Sears was one of the top point guards in college basketball a year ago, averaging 21.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 4 APG, and 1.6 SPG across 37 games. Sears also shot 50.8% from the field, 43.6% from three, and 85.7% at the free throw line, and received numerous honors that included All-American, First Team All-SEC, and more.

As for Nelson, the forward also started all 37 games for Alabama a year ago, averaging 11.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.5 APG, and 1.6 BPG. Nelson also shot 48.8% from the field, 27.3% from three, and 81.3% at the free throw line.

Where Alabama ranks in USA TODAY Sports preseason men’s basketball coaches poll

Here’s where Alabama ranks in the preseason USA TODAY Sports men’s college basketball poll.

The start of the 2024-25 college basketball season is just 12 days away, and the expectations for Nate Oats and the Alabama Crimson Tide have never been higher.

Wednesday saw the release of the preseason USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball coaches poll. To no surprise, Alabama was ranked in the top five at No. 2. Bill Self’s Kansas Jayhawks took the top spot at No. 1.

The two-time defending national champion UConn Huskies were ranked No. 3 with the Houston Cougars No. 4. The Duke Blue Devils and freshman sensation Cooper Flagg rounded out the top five.

Fresh off the program’s first trip to the Final Four in school history, and led by returning players like top-scoring guard Mark Sears (a 2024-25 AP preseason All-American) and forward Grant Nelson, Alabama has a grueling nonconference slate — even by Oats’ scheduling standards.

In a stretch from mid-November through mid-December, the Crimson Tide will travel to West Lafayette, Ind., to face the 13th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers on Nov. 15, followed by the 24th-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini at Birmingham’s Legacy Arena on Nov. 20.

The Tide will then head to Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival starting Nov. 26 with a game against Houston, followed by a matchup with No. 25 Rutgers a day later. Alabama will close the Players Era Festival with a matchup against unranked Notre Dame on Nov. 30.

From there, the Crimson Tide visits the 10th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill for a Sweet 16 rematch with RJ Davis and company on Dec. 4 as part of the SEC-ACC Challenge. Alabama closes its stretch of Top 25 competition against the 14th-ranked Creighton Bluejays on Dec. 14 in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama opens the regular season against UNC Asheville at Coleman Coliseum on Monday, Nov. 4. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

2024-25 Preseason Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll

Rank School Last Year’s Record Points
1 Kansas 23-11 743 (15)
2 Alabama 25-12 718 (6)
3 Connecticut 37-3 717 (6)
4 Houston 32-5 698 (4)
5 Duke 27-9 625
6 Iowa State 29-8 591
7 Gonzaga 27-8 575
8 Baylor 24-11 545
9 Arizona 27-9 510
10 North Carolina 29-8 498
11 Auburn 27-8 465
12 Tennessee 27-9 437
13 Purdue 34-5 390
14 Creighton 25-10 342
15 Texas A&M 21-15 332
16 Arkansas 16-17 272
17 Marquette 27-10 268
18 Indiana 19-14 208
19 Texas 21-13 166
20 Cincinnati 22-15 163
21 Florida 24-12 130
22 UCLA 16-17 123
23 Kentucky 23-10 95
24 Illinois 29-9 87
25 Mississippi 20-12 66

Dropped Out:

No. 13 North Carolina State (26-15); No. 15 Clemson (24-12); No. 18 San Diego State (26-11); No. 20 Utah State (28-7); No. 22 Saint Mary’s (26-8); No. 23 South Carolina (26-8); No. 24 Washington State (25-10); No. 25 Texas Tech (23-11)

Others Receiving Votes:

Texas Tech (23-11) 60; Rutgers (15-17) 57; St. John’s (20-13) 42; Xavier (16-18) 26; Michigan State (20-15) 25; Brigham Young (23-11) 16; Oregon (24-12) 16; Kansas State (19-15) 11; Boise State (22-11) 9; Saint Mary’s (26-8) 9; Clemson (24-12) 8; Dayton (25-8) 7; Ohio State (22-14) 7; Maryland (16-17) 4; Grand Canyon (30-5) 3; Mississippi State (21-14) 2; Princeton (24-5) 2; San Diego State (26-11) 2; Virginia (23-11) 2; Wake Forest (21-14); Wisconsin (22-14)

The USA TODAY Sports Board of Coaches is made up of 31 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The board for the 2024-25 season: Tobin Anderson, Iona; Adrian Autry, Syracuse; John Becker, Vermont; Randy Bennett, Saint Mary’s; Jeff Boals, Ohio; Alvin Brooks, Lamar; Scott Drew, Baylor; Matt Driscoll, North Florida; Dan Earl, Chattanooga; Jonas Hayes, Georgia State; Alan Huss, High Point; Donte’ Jackson, Grambling; Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa; James Jones, Yale; Greg Kampe, Oakland; Brad Korn, Southeast Missouri State; Greg McDermott, Creighton; Nick McDevitt, Middle Tennessee; Mike McGarvey, Lafayette; Niko Medved, Colorado State; Dan Monson, Eastern Washington; Chris Mooney, Richmond; Nate Oats, Alabama; Eric Olen, UC San Diego; Matt Painter, Purdue; Michael Schwartz, East Carolina; Patrick Sellers, Central Connecticut State; Zach Spiker, Drexel; Brett Tanner, Abilene Christian; Stan Waterman, Delaware State; Jeff Wulbrun, Denver.

 

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Alabama basketball edges Houston, Kansas, UConn for No. 1 in expert’s preseason rankings

This college basketball expert tabs Alabama as the best in college basketball entering the 2024-25 season.

With only 18 days until the start of college basketball’s regular season, analysts and experts are making their predictions for the year ahead — including for the Alabama Crimson Tide.

On Thursday, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander unveiled his Top 100 (And 1) rankings entering 2024-25. Norlander ranked the Crimson Tide No. 1 ahead of the Houston Cougars at No. 2 and the Kansas Jayhawks at No. 3. The two-time defending national champion UConn Huskies were ranked fourth with the Duke Blue Devils fifth.

Per Norlander’s analysis of ranking of Alabama at No. 1:

“In what feels like a wide-open season just over the horizon, I’m taking a team at No. 1 with the preseason national player of the year; a team that brought in one of the best transfer classes of the offseason; a team that is adding multiple five-star freshman; and a team that had the No. 2-ranked offense last season en route to the Final Four. Alabama.

The Tide are in the rare spot of having the men’s basketball band ranked higher in the preseason than the football fellas, just the eighth time that’s happened and the first time since 2006. (Bama football was No. 5 in the preseason.) Alabama, of course, is coming off its first Final Four in school history. Now it’s going to try to become just the fourth SEC school (joining Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky) to make back-to-back Final Fours. Remember, the Tide was wicked unpredictable on defense last season, but survived in the NCAAs despite that.”

RELATED: Everything Alabama coach Nate Oats said at SEC Basketball Media Days

Norlander isn’t the only one who favors Alabama entering the season. CBS Sports’ David Cobb recently picked the Crimson Tide to finish atop the SEC in his projected order of finish. Nate Oats’ team was ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll on Monday.

Alabama opens the regular season Nov. 4 against UNC Greensboro at Coleman Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Alabama news and notes, plus opinions. 

Everything Alabama coach Nate Oats said at SEC Basketball Media Days

Here’s everything Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats said at SEC Media Days.

Expectations for the Alabama Crimson Tide men’s basketball program have never been higher.

Just months after making their first Final Four appearance, the Crimson Tide are ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Poll and are a strong pick by national analysts to win the SEC, which featured eight teams represented at last season’s NCAA Tournament.

Alabama will be returning top scoring guard Mark Sears as well as forward Grant Nelson, both huge contributors to the Tide’s March Madness run that included an 89-87 victory over No. 1 seed North Carolina in the Sweet 16 and a hard-fought 89-82 win over a gritty, experienced Clemson Tigers squad in the Elite Eight.

But Oats wasn’t focused on last season’s trip to the Final Four during his appearance at SEC Media Days in Birmingham on Tuesday. To him, that Final Four run is already “old news.”

“We obviously used it in recruiting to get some of them here,” Oats said. “But I don’t really want to talk about it that much with the team. We had the celebration Friday where we raised the banner and gave out the rings. The issue is that eight out of our 13 scholarship guys weren’t here last year.

Alabama head coach Nate Oats speaks during SEC Media Day at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Mountain Brook Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“That was last year. It’s kind of old news,” Oats added. “It was great for the program, for the fans, for the university to be able to celebrate it, but it has nothing to do with what we’ve got going on this year. So, we’re trying to flip the page, move on, and not really address it. It was nice. It was good for our league, it’s good for our school and good for our program, but we’ve got to focus on what we’ve got to do this year, and that’s where we’re trying to get our guys’ minds at.”

Alabama will open the 2024-25 regular season against UNC Asheville on Nov. 4 at Coleman Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

Here’s everything Oats said at SEC Media Days entering his sixth season in Tuscaloosa.

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ESPN assess whether G Mark Sears should return to Alabama or stay in the NBA draft

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello claims that Alabama G Mark Sears needs to stay in the NBA draft

Wednesday, May 29 marks the final day for college basketball players to withdraw from the NBA draft process and return to college. Alabama Crimson Tide G [autotag]Mark Sears[/autotag] is the player with the most interesting decision to make after leading the Tide to their first-ever Final Four appearance in 2024 as well as earning second-team All-American honors and First-team All-SEC.

For Sears, his draft stock will likely not get much higher as he was already one of the best players in college last season as he averaged 21.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg and 4.0 apg. However, if he decides to make the return to Alabama he easily puts the Tide over the top as the best team in the country. With [autotag]Grant Nelson[/autotag] set to return and [autotag]Nate Oats[/autotag] realizing a ton of success in the transfer portal, Alabama will be okay regardless, but returning the best player from last season’s team would be the cherry on top.

From what I am seeing, more NBA mock drafts have Sears going undrafted than drafted so I tend to think the odds lean in favor of him coming back. Jeff Borzello of ESPN doesn’t necessarily agree with me though as he believes Sears should go pro saying,

“Sears would likely want to stay in the NBA draft. He participated in the NBA draft combine, but he’s ranked No. 79 in ESPN’s top 100 and isn’t a lock to be selected. If he returns to Tuscaloosa, Nate Oats’ team would have a real argument to be the preseason No. 1 team. Sears was an All-American and first-team All-SEC selection last season after averaging 21.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists, while shooting 43.6% from 3-point range. The 6-foot-1 guard put up 24.2 points in five NCAA tournament games. On a side note, teammate Jarin Stevenson was invited to the G League Elite Camp but should return to school.”

Regardless of the decision Sears makes, truly neither of them are bad. If he decides to return to Alabama, he will start putting himself in the thick of the Alabama hoops G.O.A.T. debate.

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ESPN’s Way-Too-Early NCAAM top 25 ranks Alabama No. 6 in the country

Alabama ranked No. 6 in ESPN College Basketball Expert’s way-too-early top 25

While the NBA draft process may still be ongoing, the transfer portal window is closed and we can start to assess what teams are going to look like next year. For [autotag]Nate Oats[/autotag] and the Alabama Crimson Tide, it was a wildly successful spring as they landed four key transfers in Aden Holloway from Auburn, Clifford Omoruyi from Rutgers, Chris Youngblood from USF and Houston Mallette from Pepperdine. Oats also earned a commitment from the No. 32 ranked player in the 2024 class in former Kansas commit Labaron Philon.

Grant Nelson announced his decision to return to the Crimson Tide next year, but we are still nervously waiting on a decision from Mark Sears. It sounds more likely than not that Sears, Alabama’s best player from a season ago, will be back in Tuscaloosa, but nothing is official yet. Freshman Jarin Stevenson also entered his name in the draft process, but we haven’t heard much about his status yet.

With one of the best coaches in the sport and a top two or three roster, the expectations will be high for Alabama coming off the programs first ever Final Four. In ESPN college basketball expert Jeff Borzello’s Way-Too-Early top 25, the Crimson Tide are ranked No. 6 in the country.

Borzello says of Alabama, “Nate Oats spent the first part of the offseason overhauling the perimeter group. Aaron Estrada, Rylan Griffen — and perhaps Mark Sears — are out the door, while Aden Holloway (Auburn), Chris Youngblood (South Florida) and Houston Mallette (Pepperdine) have arrived. The past couple of weeks, however, he’s been focused on the frontcourt, first getting starting forward Grant Nelson back and then beating out North Carolina for Rutgers transfer Clifford Omoruyi.”

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama basketball throughout the 2024 offseason.

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