Alabama Basketball Enjoys Trips to Zoo, TopGolf Ahead of Sweet 16 Matchup With UCLA
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After crushing Maryland in the Round of 32 of the 2021 NCAA tournament, Alabama basketball deserved some time off inside the "controlled environment" of Indianapolis.
“Practice has been good. The guys have been locked in,” Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said to the media via Zoom. “We got into the UCLA scout this morning. We’ll get into more of it later this evening. We mainly focused on ourselves yesterday in practice. We did a clean-up yesterday morning. Tuesday, we really didn’t do anything basketball-related, took a trip to the zoo, we got a lot of academic stuff done. We wanted to just give them some time away from basketball, get their minds refreshed, get their legs back up under them.”
The Crimson Tide took a trip to the Indianapolis Zoo on Tuesday then on Wednesday afternoon went to TopGolf. Outside of practicing and lifting weights, players and coaches are cooped up in their respective hotel rooms.
Last week, sophomore guard Jaden Shackelford revealed that the team had spent their time in quarantine by playing video games and spades. Following the victory over the Terps, Oats said he thinks he's gained at least 10 pounds since entering the bubble thanks to all the food and milkshakes.
Alabama practiced on Thursday inside Lucas Oil Stadium in preparation for its Sweet-16 meeting with UCLA on Sunday at Hinkle Fieldhouse (6:15 p.m, TBS).
“The biggest thing is getting out of the hotel, getting some fresh air, getting out together as a group,” Oats said. “A lot of the guys had already been to the zoo. We had one that hadn’t been to a zoo yet, so it’s kind of cool. They had more fun than I thought they’d have. I’ve got three daughters. When they were younger, it seems like they had a lot more fun at the zoo. John Petty was FaceTiming with his daughter from the zoo, which was cool to see. They just had fun at the zoo hanging out together."
Oats and the rest of the team's golf swings went under fire on social media after the outing.
“Then we went to Topgolf," Oats added. "There’s been some videos put out of our golf swings. We’ve got some bad golfers, including the head coach. But it was good to get out, get some fresh air outside, get out and do a little activity other than sit in the hotel room all day.
"It was good the NCAA put that stuff together for us.”
Alabama sophomore guard Jahvon Quinerly was excited to get out of his room and build chemistry with teammates off the floor ahead of the Crimson Tide's first regional semifinal since 2004.
“Just being cooped up in a room all day, it’s not good for anybody,” Quinerly said. “It’s definitely good getting out. I think we’ve got a couple more activities planned for the rest of the week, so we’re looking forward to that. These little activities that are being set up for us, they’re great for team chemistry and just being able to go outside and get a breath of fresh air.”
