Nate Oats Believes 2025-26 Alabama Could Be 'Best Shooting Team We've Had'

The Crimson Tide head coach opens up about the long-range potential of next season's team.

Nov 15, 2024; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (3) celebrates after making a basket during the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images / Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

For the past couple of years, Alabama has been labeled by the college basketball world as a live-and-die-by-the-three program.

However, this narrative was turned upside down this past season as the Crimson Tide was fourth in the country in two-point percentage (59.7) and 100th in three-point percentage (35.3). Additionally, Alabama's 38.7 points in the paint per game were the best mark in the SEC and 12th nationally.

Nevertheless, Alabama head coach Nate Oats is expected to utilize a healthy mix of threes and twos next season, and his revamped 2025-26 roster that currently includes four returners, four transfers and three freshmen is a big reason.

"We're going to have a really good shooting team, maybe the best shooting team we've had since I've been there," Oats said at the Senior Bowl Charities Celebrity Golf Classic in Mobile, Alabama on Monday, per AL.com. "There's shooting everywhere.

"Our bigs can shoot. Everybody in the front court. Really, there's not a non-shooter on the floor. We should have shooting everywhere. Our defense is going to have to get a little bit better, but we're going to have good versatility and good shooting next year."

Three of Alabama's four returners were among the Crimson Tide's top-4 players in three-point percentage last season. It's worth noting that returning guards Houston Mallette (50 percent––No. 1) and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (42.2 percent––No. 3), each played less than 10 games in 2024-25 due to season-ending injuries––which put each of them on medical redshirts.

Fellow returning guard and sixth-man Aden Holloway was fourth on the team in three-point percentage with 41.2 percent, and his 5.7 attempts per game from deep only trailed Consensus First Team All-American Mark Sears for the Crimson Tide lead.

Returning 6-foot-10 forward Aiden Sherrell plus the four incoming transfers all finished last season over 31 percent from downtown. 6-foot-10 Florida State transfer Taylor Bol Bowen would've been fourth on the Crimson Tide last year with his 41.4 percent.

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