Nate Oats walked up to the microphone in the media room and tried to start speaking, but his voice didn’t quite let him. He had to clear it first.
“Sorry,” Oats said, “shoot, yelling a little bit too much tonight.”
No. 4 Alabama men’s basketball was fresh off routing Georgia 90-69 on Saturday at Coleman Coliseum, which looked to be a comfortable finish. And it was, to an extent. There was plenty to like. Rebounds for one. Defense, too. But the Crimson Tide (19-3, 8-1 SEC) did enough negative to draw Oats’ ire. There’s a reason he started his postgame press conference scratchy.
Turnovers might have inspired the hoarse voice more than anything. Alabama finished the game with 20 to Georgia’s six.
“We’ve got to fix the turnovers,” Oats said. “It’s a major problem.”
Calling out the turnovers after a 21-point victory might feel like knit-picking, but it’s not. Oats is concerned about the giveaways getting in the way of this elite basketball team that is figuring out plenty else.
Alabama is starting to roll in many ways. The offense, ranked No. 2 nationally in adjusted efficiency per KenPom, is going to be there many days. The defense is improving, up to No. 41 after Saturday. Shooters are emerging (see Aden Holloway and Chris Youngblood). The team is getting healthy. Even players such as Aiden Sherrell are making an impact; the true freshman scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 20 minutes against the Bulldogs (15-7, 3-6 SEC). Mark Sears, after his well-covered benching against LSU, is on the rise again and playing like he can; he had another 20-point performance Saturday.
Alabama’s in great shape heading into the second half of conference play. But if it wants to go win the SEC, the turnovers must be fixed.
Alabama ranks No. 176 in the country in turnover percentage, per KenPom. The Crimson Tide logged its second 20-plus turnover performance of the season against Georgia. Unlike the first time (21 against Ole Miss), the problem didn’t cost Alabama the game. But it can, and likely will, again.
“We’ve had this issue way too many times,” Oats said. “It’s going to come back to bite us if we don’t get it fixed. Particularly on the road. Teams that can take advantage of it a little bit more in the open court.”
Georgia couldn’t. The firepower wasn’t there offensively. The Bulldogs only managed nine points off turnovers. Alabama has faced and will face better than that, such as No. 1 Auburn the next time the Crimson Tide plays at Coleman Coliseum. Auburn’s offense, the only one ahead of Alabama in terms of efficiency in the country, ranks No. 9 nationwide in turnover percentage. That’s a ways above Alabama, at No. 176.
The Crimson Tide fixing the turnover problem starts with its veterans. Twelve of the 20 turnovers vs. Georgia came from fifth-year seniors: Sears (six), Grant Nelson (three) and Youngblood (three).
“I hope those guys are mature enough to understand you can learn just as much off a win as you can off a loss,” Oats said.
Oats thinks they will be. Either way, Oats plans to spend Monday and Tuesday “figuring out how not to turn the ball over.” Alabama has the week off in that it doesn’t play a game until Saturday, Feb. 8 against Arkansas in Fayetteville.
Otherwise, Oats seemed encouraged about where his team sits, having won 13 of its past 14 games. Particularly, he likes what he got from Sears against Georgia. Sure, the guard scored 20 points and tallied six assists. But Oats seemed more impressed by the way Sears responded when he gave the ball away.
“Sprinted back, made tough plays on (defense),” Oats said. “Didn’t sulk. Didn’t pout. His leadership effort he gave tonight I think really helped set the tone for how the team’s supposed to look.”
Sears, the team’s leader in turnovers per game, will need to be the point person in fixing the turnover problem. If he, and the team, can do that after this week’s break, Alabama will be in prime shape to make the run of which its capable.
