Everything Nate Oats Said after Alabama's Road Loss at Vanderbilt

Full transcript and press conference video from the Crimson Tide head coach after receiving a technical against the Commodores.

Jan 7, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats reacts after getting a technical foul called against him against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the second half at Memorial Gymnasium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Alabama basketball suffered its first SEC loss on Wednesday night with a 96-90 defeat to No. 11 Vanderbilt. Head coach Nate Oats spoke with the media after the game.

Here's everything he said:

Full Transcript

Opening Statement

"They were ready to go. We weren't. I gotta do a better job making sure guys are ready at the beginning. We had four turnovers right out of the gate. Labaron had, I think, three of those, so that kind of fed them. We ended up settling down a little bit, not turning it over as much as it went on. We didn't move the ball well enough tonight. And a lot of that's Vanderbilt's defense–– they're good, play hard on both ends. Mark's done a really good job getting his guys to give effort on the defensive end. I thought Tanner was great. Our guards couldn't stay in front of him. He ends up with 29. Goes by us pretty much every time he wanted.

" I thought our guys did a decent job answering after we weren't ready to go start the game. Came out, I thought we took a one-point lead. We didn't close the half the way we needed. You know, Amari went too early. We've got to do a better job with that in end-of-half situations. And then we came out in the second half, and they played better than us. Bottom line. That's it. I mean, we didn't score well enough because I didn't think we got as good of shots as we needed to get. Didn't move the ball like we needed to. We had nine assists on the game. Ball didn't move, fouled too much. We didn't make our free throws like we needed to. Just a lot of stuff you got to do to win big basketball games, we didn't do well enough tonight.

"And a lot of it's due to Vanderbilt. They're tough and physical, got good guard play. Miles kind of led the way in the first half, and then second half, Tanner. He had six at the half and ends up with 29, had 23 in the second half. He was pretty good. He's one of the better guards in the league. If they end up winning the league championship, he'll probably be the league MVP, and he deserves it.

"So we're gonna have to play a lot better to beat you know, we won't get these guys until the SEC tournament. We're gonna play a lot better than we did tonight to beat a lot of teams in our league. So we've got to get back, regroup, get some guys healthy, put the Texas scout in, and then we're gonna have to give a lot better effort on Saturday.

On why Labaron Philon exited in the second half...

"He just had full-body cramps. I don't know. I mean, played 19 minutes and had to go back and get an IV and come play. So I don't know why he's getting full-body cramps with only playing 19 minutes, but that's what he had going."

On Alabama's struggles from 3...

" They play really hard. They contest, they fly around. So yeah, there's a reason that they're as good as they are defensively. And I thought we got a little selfish. We didn't move the ball. We had guys that had teammates open and decided not to move it. That's why our assist total was so low tonight. So give credit to Vandy, and then we got to do a better job finding the right shots."

On London Jemison and Taylor Bol Bowen...

"I thought London and Taylor both played really hard. London and Amari led us in rebounds with 11 each. London was second. Taylor was second with seven. Neither one of them shot it well, but they will make shots. If we can get the effort that London and Taylor both gave us tonight, particularly on the defense, the rebounding, all that stuff, we'll be good moving forward, because we've been missing that out of that spot. So it was good to see that. We gotta get everybody playing the right way. But I was, I was happy with those two guys, and they'll make shots. I'm not concerned about that."

On what Mark Byington's built at Vanderbilt...

"He's done a really good job. I mean, he's won everywhere he's been. He came in here and in Year 2, they're best team in the league right now, and league championship's got to come through here. So they've done a good job getting the right talent in. I mean, they've got bigs that fit his system. They've got really good guards that make plays, move the ball. He coaches them well. They play it hard on both sides of the ball. They move the ball. It's like stuff you look for out of a well coached team, they do well: the toughness, the physicality, the spacing on the floor. They're well coached on the offensive end. I think they're pretty unselfish, and they play you tough on the defensive end. I mean, their effort on the defensive end is great. So he came in established a winning culture, competitive culture, and they're best team in our league right now. So to be the best team in the league in your second year, you're doing something. He's doing a lot of good things here.