{"id":86715,"date":"2025-03-28T08:36:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T13:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/nate-oats-gives-keys-to-replicating-hot-sweet-16-performance-in-elite-eight\/"},"modified":"2025-03-28T08:36:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T13:36:53","slug":"nate-oats-gives-keys-to-replicating-hot-sweet-16-performance-in-elite-eight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/nate-oats-gives-keys-to-replicating-hot-sweet-16-performance-in-elite-eight\/","title":{"rendered":"Nate Oats gives keys to replicating hot Sweet 16 performance in Elite Eight"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEWARK, N.J. \u2014<\/strong> Alabama played arguably \u2014 and probably unanimously \u2014 its best game of the season in a 113-88 rout of BYU in the Sweet 16. Everything went right for the Crimson Tide offensively, including making a program record 25 threes on 49 percent shooting for the night.<\/p>\n

The win now has Alabama in the Elite Eight for the second year in a row and just the third time in school history, where it will meet 1-seed Duke on Saturday. After the Tide\u2019s big win on Thursday, head coach Nate Oats<\/a><\/strong> was asked what all Alabama fans want to know \u2014 how can Alabama replicate what it just did to BYU in its next game?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we\u2019ve had plenty of games where we haven\u2019t shot it well. I think we\u2019ve been really focused on making sure we don\u2019t overdo practice, legs are fresh, minds are fresh while still getting the scouting report in,\u201d Oats said. \u201cThey\u2019re supposed to be off their legs as soon as the media gets out of the locker room. Let\u2019s get them back to the hotel, let\u2019s get them off their legs, let\u2019s get the recovery started. Tomorrow it\u2019ll just be walk-through, and then we\u2019ve got to be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oats was asked this before he knew whether he would be playing Duke or 4-seed Arizona in the Elite Eight, as they two played directly after Alabama in the Prudential Center on Thursday. Regardless of who it was going to be, Oats knew the Tide needed to share the ball in a similar way that led to its 27 assists as a team against the Cougars.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, we\u2019ve got to keep moving the ball. Obviously whether it\u2019s Duke or Arizona, their defense is going to be a little different,\u201d Oats said. \u201cThey\u2019ve got some probably better rim protection, try to build out on us. We\u2019ve got to do a good job on the offensive side of the ball, showing them how they can get the threes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oats knows that after a record-breaking shooting night, the opposition isn\u2019t likely to allow near as many threes to go up as BYU did. Alabama\u2019s bigs will likely have increased usage, and will have more formidable size on the interior to deal with as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, if Duke or Arizona, whoever ends up winning decides they\u2019re not going to give us some threes, that\u2019s fine, too. Let\u2019s get to the rim,\u201d Oats said. \u201cNow, the rim protection is going to be a little different. We\u2019re going to have to figure out how to deal with that a little bit. Because obviously \u2014 I don\u2019t want to pronounce it wrong, Khaman (Maluach)<\/a><\/strong> has a 9\u20198\u2033 reach. So rim protection a little different. We\u2019re going to have to do a really good job on the offensive side of the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Above all, Oats stressed the importance of locking in on the defensive end of the floor, knowing that leads to more offensive opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other thing is our defense is going to have to be really good because they both have very good offenses,\u201d Oats said. \u201cI don\u2019t know that we\u2019re going to repeat 51 threes attempted, but we\u2019re going to have the guys ready to play the right way in my opinion and fresh. And if we get stops, it\u2019s a lot easier to get out in transition. You can get some threes in transition, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alabama\u2019s Elite Eight game against Duke will tip off at 7:49 p.m. CT on Saturday and will air on TBS\/truTV.<\/p>\n

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The post Nate Oats gives keys to replicating hot Sweet 16 performance in Elite Eight<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEWARK, N.J. \u2014 Alabama played arguably \u2014 and probably unanimously \u2014 its best game of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}