Alabama Basketball's Effort, Toughness Have to Be Player-Led for Postseason Success

Nate Oats didn't mince words after Alabama's blowout loss to Florida in the SEC Tournament semifinals.

"Our players are going to have to really determine how bad they want to make a run 'cause it's truly player-led more than anything," Oats said after the game Saturday. "With the effort and the toughness I saw the second half tonight, like, it's not going to get us very far."

He made reference to Alabama needing to be the toughest, hardest-playing team on the floor seven times in his postgame press conference.

Players in the locker room after the game talked about the lack of toughness they played with against Florida, particularly in the second half.

"As a team, we kind of did a bad job of that," center Clifford Omoruyi said. "On my own side, I did a bad job of helping my team out. I would say today I kind of played soft because I didn't get a rebound. I wasn't helping my teammates."

Nate Oats was not happy with the effort from his team in the postgame presser.

Clifford Omoruyi owned up to his play in the locker room, says he wants to challenge himself to be better in the NCAA Tournament.

“I would say today I kind of played soft.” pic.twitter.com/q59IAXDDHX
— Katie Windham (@katiewindham_) March 15, 2025

Omoruyi finished with one rebound in 16 minutes played. That's obviously not the type of production a team wants from a starting center. He said he's going to challenge himself to be better in the NCAA Tournament.

Oats seemed to have cooled off by Sunday evening when the Crimson Tide was announced as a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament. He feels like his team is "more than capable" of making a return trip to the Final Four after reaching the program milestone a season ago.

Alabama has one of the most talented rosters in the country but has been bitten by the injury bug since before the season even began. The injuries are part of what has led to some of Alabama's inconsistencies in play.

The Crimson Tide lost five of its last nine games heading into the NCAA Tournament, but four of those losses were to teams (Florida, Auburn and Tennessee) that ended up seeded as a No. 2 or higher.

Alabama also proved at times this season that it can compete with and beat anyone. The Tide has wins over two of the four No. 1 seeds (Houston and Auburn), both away from Coleman Coliseum. The team also hung close with 1-seed Florida in the first half of both matchups before things spiraled out of control in the second half.

Oats was asked whether or not this team has the ability to be player-led down the final stretch when it comes to effort and toughness.

"I think they’re more than capable of it," he said. "You know, Chris Youngblood’s outspoken, competitive. Mark's definitely done it at times and is more than capable of doing it. Grant and Cliff are both great guys that have toughness in them. I mean, Grant’s shown up big in every big game he’s had pretty much his entire career here. Cliff’s done it at a high level in the Big 10, and now here in particular games.

“They’ve all shown they can do it. We’ve also got younger guys. Labaron’s got all kinds of energy, and he’s got a lot of charisma about him.”

Alabama has a roster to compete with anyone, but it ultimatley will come down to the want-to of the players that are available. There's no more margin for error when it comes to giving low effort. It's the point of the season where it's win or go home.

And for at least four Crimson Tide players, it will be their last college game regardless of what happens in the NCAA Tournament starting with Robert Morris on Friday. Mark Sears, Chris Youngblood, Grant Nelson and Omoruyi are all out of eligibility as fifth-year seniors. There are other players, like freshman Labaron Philon, who are likely headed to the NBA draft after this season.

"They’re gonna have to come together," Oats said. "I mean, this is their team. This is it. At the end of this, those four, fifth-year seniors I listed off, their last loss will be their last game. So, how bad do they want to keep playing together? How bad do they want to keep their college basketball career going?

"If they want it bad enough, they're going to lead the team in the way they need to be led, and if we do that, we’re as good as anybody in the country when you put it together for 40 minutes."

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