TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball’s top moments this season have come away from home. The Crimson Tide advanced to the final of the Players Era Tournament in Las Vegas before beating North Carolina on the road. Since the start of SEC play, the Tide has continued to take down opponents at their place, recording top-15 wins at Texas A&M (then No. 10), Kentucky (then No. 8) and No. 14 Mississippi State.

Alabama’s success inside Coleman Coliseum has been a bit less consistent. The Tide is 9-1 in front of its home fans, but that includes a few erratic performances.

Ole Miss upset Alabama, 74-64, inside Coleman Coliseum last month. From there, the Tide suffered a second-half lapse on defense during a 103-87 win over Vanderbilt. Last weekend, Alabama fans had to sweat it out as the Tide struggled in an 80-73 win over SEC bottom-dweller LSU.

Nate Oats is hoping that trend stops Saturday when No. 4 Alabama (18-3, 7-1) hosts Georgia (15-6, 3-5)

“Looking to get good 40 minutes on both sides of the ball, an entire 40,” Oats said. “Probably the closest we’ve had was our first home game against – at least at home – our first one against Oklahoma.

“… We’re gonna have to come ready to play. We have not played that great in our last three home games. We’ve gotta be a little better here at home.”

Georgia posted a 12-1 record in non-conference play before upsetting then-No. 6 Kentucky. However, the Bulldogs suffered a four-game losing streak before beating South Carolina this week.

Alabama beat Georgia, 85-76, in Athens last season and enters this year’s matchup as a 12.5-point favorite. Still, Oats is cautioning his team not to take the Bulldogs lightly.

“I’d like to see us come in and show the same respect to Georgia because they deserve it. This team beat Kentucky, it was a 2-point game with Auburn, who is the best team in our league metric-wise by a long shot. This team needs our full respect. We’ve tried to tell them. I hope guys are mature enough to give it that, and I hope we play with the sense of urgency and effort that it takes to beat a really good team like Georgia.”

Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s game.

Who: No. 4 Alabama (18-3, 7-1 SEC) vs. Georgia (15-6, 3-5)

When: 3 p.m. CT, Saturday, Feb. 1

Where: Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Watch: ESPN2 (Play-By-Play: Matt Schumacker, Analyst: Richard Hendrix)

Listen: Crimson Tide Sports Network | SIRIUS/XM 134/201 (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart, Analyst: Lawson Schaffer)

Mark Sears: 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, graduate

Stats: 18.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 5.0 apg, 40.2% FG, 35.7% 3-pt

Chris Youngblood: 6-foot-4, 177 pounds, freshman

Stats: 9.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.1 apg, 41.6% FG, 35.7% 3-pt

Jarin Stevenson: 6-foot-11, 215 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 4.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.9 apg, 35.2% FG, 21.7% 3-pt

Grant Nelson: 6-foot-11, 230 pounds, graduate

Stats: 12.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 1.6 apg, 53.9% FG, 26.2% 3-pt

Clifford Omoruyi: 6-foot-11, 250 pounds, graduate

Stats: 7.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 0.8 apg, 75.9% FG

Silas Demary Jr.: 6-foot-5, 195 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 11.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.8 apg, 40.4% FG, 38.0% 3-pt

Tyrin Lawrence: 6-foot-4, 200 pounds, senior

Stats: 9.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.6 apg, 42.7% FG, 31.6% 3-pt

Blue Cain: 6-foot-5, 195 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 8.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.3 apg, 37.3% FG, 31.4% 3-pt

R.J. Godfrey: 6-foot-8, 230 pounds, junior

Stats: 6.8 ppg, 4.1rpg, 52.9% FG

Asa Newell: 6-foot-11, 220 pounds, freshman

Stats: 15.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 55.9% FG, 27.7% 3-pt

Alabama hasn’t lost many games this season, but the Tide has struggled when it comes to stopping its opponent’s biggest star.

Mississippi State guard Josh Hubbard dropped a career-high 38 points in a losing effort against Alabama this week. That performance is nothing new for the Tide, as it allowed Texas A&M’s Zhuric Phelps to score 35 after being torched in non-conference play by Rutgers’ Dylan Harper (37 points) and North Dakota’s Treysen Eaglestaff (40 points).

When asked about the struggles on Friday, Oats said he’s still looking for players to rise to the occasion against top talent. Graduate guard Chris Youngblood has done that to a certain extent, stopping the bleeding against Phelps and A&M before doing the same thing against Hubbard in the win over Mississippi State. Oats also highlighted forward Mo Dioubate as a player who has been unafraid of any matchup he’s been presented with. However, more will be needed against the top players on the Tide’s upcoming schedule.

“It’d be nice if someone had some intensity and some pride about them to step up and be like, ‘Coach, I’ve got this guy. Just put me on him. It’s done. I’ve got it,’” Oats said. “... It would be nice if we had a little more of that. As we currently stand, we probably don’t. So we’ve gotta get a guy really amped up that’s capable of guarding the other team’s best players.”

Next up for Alabama is a matchup against one of the SEC’s top freshmen, Asa Newell. The 6-foot-11 forward leads Georgia averaging 15.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while shooting 55.9% from the floor and 27.7% from deep. Newell is coming off his fifth double-double of the season, recording 17 points and 10 rebounds against South Carolina earlier this week.

Alabama’s defensive lapses almost proved costly during its win at Mississippi State earlier this week. The Tide knocked down 15 of 31 shots from beyond the arc and needed nearly every one of them as it allowed the Bulldogs to shoot 50% from the floor while averaging 1.2 points per possession. While the defensive effort left much to be desired, Oats believes his team’s breakdowns can be corrected ahead of this weekend’s matchup against Georgia.

“They’re all fixable, I don’t think there’s anything we’re not capable of doing,” Oats said. “Our pick-and-roll defense wasn’t where we needed it to be. Hubbard was able to get 3s off and able to get to the rim. The way we guard pick-and-rolls, those are the two things we’re never trying to give up. You shouldn’t be able to dribble off pick-and-roll and hit a three the way we’re guarding. You also shouldn’t be able to get downhill and score at the rim, and he was able to do both. Our pick-and-roll defense wasn’t where it needed to be. Our transition defense has been a little bit of an issue off and on throughout the year, and it was a little bit of an issue this game.”

Oats also signaled out his team’s help defense, stating poor rotations led to plenty of open looks in the paint, where Mississippi State outscored Alabama 40-24.

“We’ve got to clean that up,” Oats said. “We kind of call it our shell, if you will, you kind of base thing. You’ve got to go through all these actions you want to guard, but having your help there trumps all the actions you’re guarding on the weakside. You saw it multiple times where guys got free, whether it’s pick-and-roll or driving down the lane, we didn’t get our help over there in time. Those are some of the bigger areas that Mississippi State exposed.

“Going into Georgia, our post defense has to be elite. We’ve had that exposed in different games as well this year.”

— Oats has 25 wins over teams ranked inside the Associated Press’ Top 25 during his six seasons at Alabama. That ties Wimp Sanderson for most in program history.

— Since Oats arrived to Tuscaloosa in 2019-20, Alabama has won a league-best 69 games during SEC play.

— During SEC play, Mark Sears ranks first in assists (6.8 apg) and fifth in points (18.0 ppg).

— Aden Holloway has scored 10 points or more in 14 games coming off the bench this season, which leads the SEC.

— Georgia was ranked in the AP top-25 poll on Jan. 13 for the first time since 2011.

— Georgia forward Somto Cyril ranks second in the SEC with 1.8 blocks per game.

— Georgia is allowing 66.1 points per game, which ranks fifth in the SEC and 47th in the nation