Nate Oats Aims to Limit Missouri Player Who 'Killed' Alabama Last Season

Mark Mitchell scored 31 points against Alabama in 2025, making Tuesday's game a pivotal test for a "really improved" Aiden Sherrell and a "bigger" frontcourt.

Jan 14, 2026; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Mark Mitchell (25) celebrates after dunking the ball against the Auburn Tigers during the second half of the game at Mizzou Arena. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball's road matchup against Missouri last season seemed like a never-ending nightmare.

Mizzou had a 12-0 lead two minutes into the game, Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats later received his first technical of the season after murdering his clipboard and the Tigers' 110 points were its most in an SEC contest in program history.

Missouri forward Mark Mitchell was a big reason for all of this, as he finished with a career-high 31 points. The Crimson Tide will face Mitchell and the Tigers again on Tuesday night in Coleman Coliseum, and head coach Nate Oats emphasized during Monday's press conference how much he "killed us last year."

But like Mizzou, Alabama looks a bit different this year. Crimson Tide forward Aiden Sherrell was last on the team in 2024-25 in minutes per game, and he only played for six during the loss to the Tigers. Fast forward to today, Sherrell has started in every game he's played this season and his 2.5 blocks per game rank second in the SEC. Sherrell will often shadow Mitchell this evening.

"He's going to play a lot more than six [minutes]," Oats said. "He's one of the better post defenders now. They're playing Mitchell a lot more at the four than they were last year. He's good out there. He drives it well. He can put it on the deck.

"If you put a perimeter four on him, it's going to be hard for some of our more perimeter-oriented fours that we play to guard Mitchell with the physicality he drives it with."

Mitchell currently leads the Tigers in points (17.7 — seventh in the SEC) and rebounds (5.5, including 1.8 offensive). On top of that, the 6-foot-9 man from Kansas City is coming into this game following perhaps his best performance in conference. Mizzou defeated Oklahoma 88-87 in overtime on Jan. 24, much thanks to 25 points, including the game-winning 3-point buzzer-beater, 10 rebounds (five offensive) and four assists by Mitchell.

Nevertheless, Oats has a couple of potential solutions that hindered UA against Mitchell and Mizzou head coach Dennis Gates during last season's matchup.

"We do have the capability of going bigger now," Oats said. "So we could choose to go two bigs and match Mitchell with another big. If we do that [Sherrell] can match up well with it. Last year [Sherrell] was playing behind Cliff [Omoruyi], Grant [Nelson] and Mo Dioubate had minutes at the four. So we allowed Grant Nelson to play more five sometimes in front of Aiden.

"But Aiden has really stepped up. He's really improved. He's improved probably more on the defensive end than anywhere. So he was not responsible for a lot of those 31 points. Not sure if he's responsible for any, to be honest with you, but he's going to have a shot to be in the game, whether he's matched on Mitchell or not. He's going to be in the game for a lot more minutes this year."

Alabama aims for a much-needed win against unranked Mizzou, as the Crimson Tide currently sits at No. 23 in the AP Top 25 — its lowest placement since January 2024. Limiting Mitchell will create a ton of momentum for Oats throughout tonight, but of course, that is much easier said than done.

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