Nate Oats Explains Defensive Possession With Only Four Players Against Georgia

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- No. 16 Alabama went to Athens on Tuesday and were upset by the Georgia Bulldogs 98-88. The loss ended an eight-game winning streak for the Crimson Tide, but may have come at the perfect time to refocus the team ahead of postseason play.

Alabama struggled in multiple ways allowing Georgia 13 offensive rebounds for 25 second-chance points, turning the ball over 10 times for 21 points and allowing the Bulldogs to convert 53-percent from the floor due to bad defense.

Despite the struggles, the Crimson Tide left Athens with a unique feather in their cap, stopping the Bulldogs late in the first half with just four players on the floor.

Y’all help me out what am I missing?

I’m 99.9% sure Alabama just came out of a timeout and played defense with 4 guys. Funniest part is UGA had to spend a timeout to not go backcourt 😭 pic.twitter.com/G1qqZceMx8
— Ganiel Diddens (@DGiddensBurner) March 4, 2026

"We subbed a guy in in the timeout for one, I believe it was Amari [Allen] who came in, no, Amari had four fouls," Nate Oats explained on Friday. "We brought a guy in for Amari, I think I'm remembering this correctly, the sub came in for Amari. Somebody else that was in stepped off the floor, maybe thinking that we wanted the defensive group, and he wouldn't be included in that, even though he's been playing pretty good defense here lately, and I thought he could turn somebody over. He just assumed he wasn't on the floor and went to the bench. Amari went to the bench like he was supposed to, because somebody subbed in for him. One of his teammates went to the bench, like he was not supposed to do, assuming that we brought a player in to play defense for him, I don't know. I guess having four out there is better than having six out there, but neither one are ideal. You should be having five guys on the floor every time you come out of a timeout. We've got to do a better job communicating, making sure we're talking through who's on the floor every time. What's crazy is, I think we forced a timeout with four guys on the floor. If we can be that good a defensive team playing five on four we should be a little better in five on five moving forward, I would think. "

Oats protected guard Aden Holloway, who stayed on the bench after the timeout despite never being subbed out, and praised the effort of Labaron Philon, Jalil Bethea, Houston Mallette, and Noah Williamson. The fearsome foursome buckled down and forced a bad pass that almost went for a turnover had Georgia not called a timeout.