Alabama's Backcourt Stepping Up To Lead Defensive Improvement

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- No. 16 Alabama basketball rolls into the final week of the regular season with big goals still ahead of them. The Crimson Tide, with an eight-game wining streak in their pocket, is poised to make another run in March after enduring a slow start to conference play.

The Crimson Tide went from 4-4 in league action to its current 12-4 record, while battling numerous injuries thanks to slow but steady improvements on the defensive end. Alabama moved up to No. 59 in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom, but the Crimson Tide head coach favored another metric, while explaining how his team took a step forward.

"We quit using KenPom because they don't take into account the fact that you have guys sitting out all the time. I think Haslametrics has us 38th," Oats said. "Our defense is getting better. It's been good enough to win these games in February. It's still not where we need it to go. It's significantly better than it was two years ago going on the Final Four run, but it's going to have to be one of those deals where, we know it hasn't been where we want it to be for the whole season, but kind of like when we went on the Final Four run, let's forget some of this, let's lock in, let's be the best defensive team we can, let's try to have a top-20 defense right now, which we did in that Final Four run. You go look at the numbers, in those four wins to get to the Final Four, we had one of the better defenses in the country. So we need to get it there. I do think we've shown, particularly in the backcourt, a lot more fight.

"[Latrell] Wrightsell's been pretty good since he got healthy, playing his best basketball of his career, but to me started on the defense. Before he went on this offensive run, he's been one of the best players in the SEC here lately. Before he went on this big offensive run he already had his defense locked in. [Aden] Holloway, starting with that LSU game, has looked really good on defense. I thought [Labaron] Philon's effort was better last game as he's gotten a little healthier. Our defense is getting better. It is moving up whatever analytics sites you want to go to. It's got to continue to improve pretty drastically if we're going to make the run we're trying to make here in March."

Wrightsell missed time in the middle of the season as he's continued to recover from an Achilles injury last season, but since his return against Tennessee in late January the graduate has 13 steals in 11 games. Oats has continuously preached effort and intensity naturally leading to strong offensive play and Wrightsell is a perfect example. He's made 39-of-84 3-point shots in the same 11 games, good for 46 percent from deep.

Alabama has two more games remaining in the regular season against two quality offenses. Georgia boasts the No. 16 offensive efficiency and Auburn the No. 12, testing the Crimson Tide twice more before entering postseason play.