Alabama’s Nate Oats Issues Apology After Shoving Missouri Player in Tuesday Night’s Win
Alabama head basketball coach Nate Oats issued a postgame apology after shoving Missouri forward Aidan Shaw during an altercation on Tuesday night in front of the Alabama bench.
With 7:34 to play in the first half of Tuesday’s 93–75 win over the Tigers, Shaw got tangled up with Alabama guard Aaron Estrada in front of the Crimson Tide’s bench. Oats stepped in during the dead ball and pushed Shaw away from Estrada towards the Missouri bench.
Alabama cruised to an easy win, but the story after the game was the shove.
“I have all the respect in the world for the job [Missouri coach Dennis Gates] has done as an assistant and head coach,” Oats said after the game. “No disrespect to him or his program. I apologized to both Coach Gates and Aidan Shaw. Aidan seems like a great kid. It’s an unfortunate situation, but I apologized to both of them.”
It’s likely that Oats will hear from the SEC for his role in the incident.
Alabama improved to 12–5 on the season and 4–0 in league play. The loss dropped Missouri to 8–9 on the year, and 0–4 in SEC play.
