BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Nate Oats had a hard practice planned for Monday. But the Alabama coach knew he’d be cutting things short.

“Mentally, we did an hour of skill.” Oats told reporters after a speaking engagement at the Birmingham Tip Off Club. “I took them out and did mini golf for the next hour and a half…

“They shouldn’t expect that ever again” Oats quickly added with a smile. “But today we tried to get them a little more mentally fresh. So, I got a little bit of mini golf practice today with some of the players.”

Oats didn’t get to see the final tally of the mini-golf outing, but said he lost to forward Grant Nelson by one stroke. His choice to give his players a much-needed break was a deliberate one.

Alabama got a timely off week right in the middle of its conference schedule. The Tide wrapped up its first nine SEC games with a 90-69 win over Georgia on Saturday and does not have a midweek game to worry about before starting its final nine games with a trip to Arkansas.

The back nine is shaping up to be much more difficult than the one Alabama faced on the mini-golf greens Monday. Seven of the Tide’s final nine games are against ranked opponents. Six of those teams are ranked inside the top 15 of the latest AP Poll. With no margin for error the rest of the way, Oats is grateful for the timely break and said it will be vital fuel for his team to sustain success after an 8-1 start to league play.

“I think it’s huge for a physical reset,” Oats said. “We got a lot of guys banged up. So we’ve adjusted our original plan. Our original plan was to go hard twice this week to stay really on top. We’re only gonna go hard once in practice and make sure it’s a lot more controlled than maybe what a game would be.”

In addition to getting players like Derrion Reid and Labaron Philon healthy — Oats mentioned after the Georgia game that both players have been dealing with minor injuries — the other mission for Oats is to keep his players focused on the task at hand as it looks to catch No. 1 Auburn. The Tigers are a half-game ahead of Alabama and will play their ninth SEC game against Oklahoma on Wednesday.

Alabama will welcome Auburn to Coleman Coliseum on Feb. 15 in what is set to be one of the most highly anticipated iterations of the Iron Bowl of Basketball in recent memory. Before that, however, the Tide has to navigate road trips to Arkansas and Texas over the next week and a half ahead of that seven-game finish in league play.

Oats talked about the impressive basketball that the entire state of Alabama is privileged to watch this season no matter which team one is affiliated with. He acknowledged the hype both matchups are getting — The IBOB rematch is set for March 8 inside Neville Arena. However, when it comes to his players, Oats is determined to keep the focus on the game immediately in front of them and make sure it takes care of business so its matchups against Auburn do indeed have the title implications they’re expected to.

“You can’t do anything but literally look at the next game, prep for it, look practice today," Oats said. "How do we get better today on what we gotta get better at, and just let everything fall where it may. I think when you start looking down the road at some of that stuff you get tripped up. You think the last game at Auburn is gonna be a big one and all of a sudden you don’t take care of something in front of it has no meaning anymore because the regular season is already determined.”

Alabama will face Arkansas at 7 p.m. CT Saturday inside Bud Walton Arena. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. And as far as that upcoming Iron Bowl game — a reporter informed Oats on Monday that tickets are currently approaching the $400 to get in the door.

“My guess would be if you want to get in the building you should probably buy it at $400 now,” Oats said. “Because my guess is it’s not going down from now until then.”