Why Nate Oats was 'Disappointed with Myself' in SEC Tournament Loss to Ole Miss

NASHVILLE — Alabama did not expect to see Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament.

As the Crimson Tide prepared for an SEC Tournament quarterfinal matchup with Texas or Georgia, the Rebels would go on to defeat both of them, outplaying both projected NCAA Tournament teams in two games where they never trailed. The Cinderella run continued on Friday, as Ole Miss led wire-to-wire in an 80-79 win over Nate Oats' squad.

"I'm a little disappointed with myself, just not being able to convince our guys how good this team was going to be," Oats said postgame. "We didn't have an edge to us. They came out ready to play, and they kind of killed us on the effort stuff."

The Alabama basketball team that dominated every aspect of the game last Saturday against Auburn was nowhere to be found in the Music City, as the Rebels outshot and outrebounded the Crimson Tide, leading by as much as 14 points early. The blue-collar style of play that Oats' teams pride themselves on was not on display in the loss.

"In the first half, everything was real comfortable for them," Oats said. "We didn't play hard enough. When you have a team that's on a run, has confidence behind them, got going, and you don't play hard enough on defense or do the effort stuff, you're asking for a game like this where you could end up losing."

The Rebels have had a disappointing season by just about every metric, going 12-19 for the first losing season of Chris Beard's coaching career. Alabama handled Ole Miss 93-74 in Oxford back in February, and multiple Crimson Tide players stated that Beard's team did nothing differently in Friday's game, instead saying that the loss simply came down to preparation.

"I take full ownership, that's on me," senior leader Houston Mallette said. "I've got to be ready to play. I've got to get our team ready to play, and I did a terrible job of that this week."

Alabama is likely going to drop to a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament with the loss. The team will find out its draw during Sunday's selection show, but if the team repeats what it did on Friday, it's easy to see just about any tournament team handing the Crimson Tide an early exit.

"We're going to have to play significantly better," Oats said. "We will be one game and done in the NCAA tournament if that's the effort we're going to give in that tournament."

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