TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nate Oats took Alabama back to his high school days this week in practice. The former Romulus (Mich.) High School head coach claims he used to practice five-on-seven at times earlier in his career in order to prepare his teams for the running and trapping they’d face from Detroit-area competition.

Alabama (3-4) will face a team with that same scrappy style of play when it hosts Stephen F. Austin (7-1) on Friday at 7 p.m. CT inside Coleman Coliseum.

“We did a little five-on-six the past couple days just to try to emulate guys flying all over the floor,” Oats said. “Because if you don’t play that way, it’s really hard to emulate it five-on-five in practice. They’re just not used to flying in passing lanes and running all over the court. So we put a sixth guy out there and let him just be a free safety running wherever.”

How to watch: Alabama vs. Stephen F. Austin

SFA is best known for upsetting previously No. 1-ranked Duke on the road. The Lumberjacks’ 85-83 overtime win over the Blue Devils was the talk of college basketball last week as it snapped Duke’s 150-game non-conference home winning streak.

Oats knows the win was no fluke.

The Lumberjacks lead the nation in steals per game (12.8) and turnovers forced per game (26.0). According to Alabama’s analytics staff, if SFA keeps up at that rate it will post the highest defensive turnover rate in the past 18 years. That’s a bit concerning for an Alabama team giving up the ball an average of 18.1 times per game.

Duke turned the ball over 22 times in its loss to SFA, most notably on its final possession of the game as a giveaway led to a game-winning coast-to-coast layup from Lumberjacks’ forward Nathan Bain as time expired inside a shocked Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“If you play any kind of way that Duke did — lackadaisical, not caring about the ball — that’s when they really thrive on, and they really thrive in transition off of turnovers,” said Alabama graduate transfer point guard James “Beetle” Bolden. “If you look and watch that play, that’s exactly how they got that last play. They pressured the ball, it was a loose ball and they dove on it and kicked it out to their man and made a tough play. That’s who they are.”

As much as Alabama has struggled with turnovers this season, things seemed to get a bit better during its trip to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament last week. The Crimson Tide stayed below its season average in turnovers in all three of its games in the tournament, including losses to North Carolina (14) and Iowa State (17) as well as a win over Southern Miss (15). Those numbers are still a bit high, but they provide some reason for encouragement moving forward.

“It shows up in the box score here and there where we can make some strides toward not turning the ball over,” Bolden said. “Then there’s some games where we do get sloppy. I mean, that’s just the game of basketball.”

Along with their ability to force turnovers, the Lumberjacks are also known for their hacking style of play. SFA enters Friday’s contest committing 24.8 fouls per game, the fourth-highest average in the nation — something Oats hopes officials don’t lose sight of Friday night.

“We know we’re going to get fouled,” he said. “I don’t think they even care about fouling people, they just want to play hard. And referees a lot of times quit calling fouls after you keep fouling the whole game. So, hopefully, we can continue to get fouls the whole game, but whether they do or not we’re going to have to step up to the line and make free-throws.”

Through seven games, Alabama is shooting 69.9 percent from the free-throw line.

Friday night’s game will be the second and of a home-and-home as Alabama beat SFA 79-69 on the road last season. The Crimson Tide is currently a 9.5-point favorite, according to Vegas Insider.

“I know what type of team they are,” Alabama guard John Petty Jr. said. “We’ve played them for two years, and I watched some of the Duke game while we were in the Bahamas. I know what kind of energy they bring.”

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