Nate Oats Reveals Why He Didn't Call a Timeout During Florida's 17-2 Run

Alabama fell to the Gators 104-82 in the SEC Tournament semifinal on Saturday, as Florida came out of the halftime locker room on fire.

Mar 15, 2025; Nashville, TN, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats yells instructions to his team against the Florida Gators during the first half at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

NASHVILLE –– Alabama men's basketball fell to Florida 104-82 in the SEC Tournament semifinal on Saturday, but it would be very difficult to predict that final score based on the halftime status.

The Crimson Tide trailed Florida 47-45 at the break. Considering how the first game went on March 5, as Alabama lost 99-94 but had a big comeback late to make it a more respectable score, this was a relatively positive start against the Gators––a current No. 1 seed projection in the NCAA Tournament.

Late in the first half, Alabama forward Grant Nelson hobbled off the court with a knee injury. The Tide stayed the course in those final minutes, but when Nelson didn't start in the second half, the Gators absolutely chomped Alabama on at the start of the second half as they went on an astounding 17-2 run.

Timeouts are a way to cool down opponents if they're on a hot streak. However, Alabama head coach Nate Oats didn't seem to have interest in giving his team a short break, even when down 64-50 after five minutes of being slaughtered.

"I told them, 'Do you want me to call a timeout and tell them to play harder?' We sat in the video room after the first time we played Florida," Oats said. "We said we're going to be the hardest playing, toughest team. It's not because we're tired. We can make up a lot of excuses.

"We played last night, they played last night. 15-minute break at halftime, they played harder than us. You guys got to determine whether you're going to play tougher or not. Then you figure some stuff out, to be honest with you. They need to figure out whether they wanted to be the hardest playing, toughest team on the floor or not."

Oats has said throughout the season and during Saturday's postgame press conference that Alabama is a player-led team. The Crimson Tide has four scholarship seniors/graduate students who have each played big roles in terms of leadership.

One of these players is Alabama guard Chris Youngblood, who was really the Tide's only bright light in the second half as he scored 11 points in the period. In fact, Youngblood was Alabama's lone scorer for the first seven minutes out of the break.

"Pretty easy, but it's not simple," Youngblood said when asked how veterans can stop and limit the damage done during a big run. "Regroup. This is the SEC tournament. It's March. So at the end of the day, the things that caused the 17-2 run had nothing to do with basketball. Toughness, discipline, playing hard."

Florida will face Tennessee tomorrow in the SEC Tournament Championship. Alabama we'll be watching the Selection Sunday show for the NCAA Tournament shortly after the title game in Nashville concludes. The Crimson Tide is projected to be a 2-seed in the field of 68, but player leadership is the highest priority for Oats.

"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. "With the effort and the toughness I saw the second half tonight, like, it's not going to get us very far...We're going to have to do a little soul searching, see how bad we want to make a deep run."