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Alabama head coach Nate Oats works with his team against Florida during the first half of a Southeastern Conference tournament semifinal game at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, March 15, 2025. Photo | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The signage inside Bridgestone Arena for this year’s SEC Tournament resembles that of a vintage boxing poster. That was fitting for Saturday’s semifinal heavyweight bout between No. 4 Florida and No. 5 Tennessee.
After sparring back and forth for a half, the Gators drew first blood following the break.
Florida answered an early Alabama 3 with a deep haymaker of its own. From there, the Gators put together a flurry of punches, capitalizing on a flagrant-1 foul before peppering the Tide in the paint.
Alabama couldn’t stop the bleeding, as Florida went on a 17-2 run to turn a one-point deficit into a 14-point lead.
During that roughly four-minute meltdown, Alabama head coach Nate Oats elected not to call a timeout, choosing instead to let his players work out their problems on the court. That choice is a bit of a head-scratcher and arguably played a key role in the Tide’s 104-82 loss to the Gators.
Still, Oats is standing by his decision.
“I told them, do you want me to call a timeout and tell them to play harder,” Oats responded when asked after the game about his thought process during Florida’s run. “We sat in the video room after the first time we played Florida. 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.”
To answer the first part of Oats’ response, “Yes. That’s your job.”
Oats is right. Alabama’s blowout loss is ultimately down to the players. The Tide’s defense was nowhere to be found in the second half, allowing the Gators to rack up 1.54 points per possession. Florida also outrebounded Alabama 43-38 and held a 42-34 advantage in the paint.
Did Alabama players quit down the stretch? It sure looked like it. They’re certainly going to have to come out with a much better sustained effort if they’re going to make any kind of run in the NCAA Tournament.
That’s all true, but Oats didn’t do his team any favors when it was at its lowest.
Whether they showed it or not, Alabama players heard and understood the emphasis Oats placed on a tougher approach against Florida after getting manhandled by the Gators in Coleman Coliseum earlier this month. Tide players also understood they weren’t meeting that standard Saturday afternoon.
Oats didn’t need to inform them of that. But a reminder might have helped. Shoot, with the way these TV timeouts have been here in Nashville, it might have at least cooled off a red-hot Florida team.
Understanding the assignment is one thing, but executing it is another. Let’s apply Oats’ philosophy to another aspect of Alabama’s loss to Florida.
The head coach probably drew up a better plan to limit Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr., but didn’t stop the senior guard from putting up a game-high 22 points and six assists while shooting 6 of 11 from beyond the arc.
“What do you want me to do, call a timeout to tell the guys not to let Clayton get open?”
See how silly that sounds?
To be fair, it feels like Alabama players agree with their head coach’s decision not to call a timeout. Here’s what senior guard Chris Youngblood had to say when asked about the keys to stopping a killer run like the one Saturday.
“Regroup. This is the SEC tournament. It's March,” Youngblood said. “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, like coach said.”
The problem Saturday was that Alabama wasn’t given much of an opportunity to regroup.
Two things can be right at the same time. Tide players will need to show more grit if they want to make another Final Four run over the next month. Chances are, they’ll likely also need a lifeline or two from their head coach when times get rough.
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