TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nate Oats has a way of bringing out the best in Mo Dioubate during those rare moments when the Queens, New York native isn’t bullying his opponents on the court.

“We’ll call him ‘Broadway Mo’ when we’re trying to jab at him a little bit,” Oats said with a smile. “Calling him soft to get him going a little bit. We’ll tell him, ‘We’ve got the Broadway Mo today, not the Southside Jamaica, Queens Mo.’ We got to go back to the tough side of New York City.”

Fortunately for Alabama, Broadway Mo hasn’t been on tour lately. In fact, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a grittier player in the SEC this season.

Dioubate certainly brings the muscle for Alabama. Through 21 games, the 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward has earned the team-high seven Hard Hat Awards, one more than Grant Nelson who sits in second place.

The Hard Hat Award is awarded based on an accumulation of points for “blue-collar” plays such as deflections, steals, blocks, offensive rebounds, floor dives and drawn charges.

Dioubate currently sits second on the team with 311.5 this season. He’s managed that total without logging a start and averaging just 14.6 minutes per game, the 10th-highest court time on the team.

To put things in perspective, Dioubate is averaging roughly 1.01 blue-collar points per minute. That’s higher than the roughly 0.75 Herb Jones averaged during his SEC Player of the Year season for Alabama in 2021.

“We call it blue-collar basketball, he’s as blue-collar as it gets,” Oats said of Dioubate. “He’s all about getting stops.”

Dioubate has taken home Alabama’s Hard Hat Award in three of the last four games. That includes Wednesday night’s win at No. 14 Mississippi State when he posted 20.0 blue-collar points. Dioubate recorded four points and nine rebounds against the Bulldogs, including a team-high seven offensive boards. He also forced the game-winning turnover, causing Mississippi State guard Josh Hubbard to dribble the ball out of bounds with roughly five seconds to play.

“Absolute joy to coach, really glad we got him,” Oats said of Dioubate. “Because the other thing is he teaches the other guys what we want. I don’t know how many times I’ve said ‘If y’all could just play as hard as him and be locked into that stuff.’”

Oats has leaned on Dioubate for various defensive assignments, putting him on guards such as Hubbard while also using his muscle to bang bodies closer to the rim. The sophomore’s hustle has resulted in him logging 15 or more minutes in each of his last four games.

At this rate, it’s getting hard for Oats to keep him off the court.

“He’s never complained about minutes,” Oats said. “We just explain to him what he needs to do to get more minutes. He’s just like, ‘All right, got it Coach.’ He just kind of nods his head and proceeds to do what you tell him to do.”

Alabama could use a bit more Broadway skill from Dioubate on the offensive side of the ball, he is averaging a respectable 6.0 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 57.5% from the floor. But Oats isn’t counting out some star potential from his blue-collar big moving forward either.

“You hit him in the pocket, and he makes pocket reads as good as anybody on the team. You get him going downhill, in certain situations, he finishes at the rim better than anybody on the team. Rebounding’s a skill, and he’s elite at that.”

Dioubate will look to show off his hard-working style under the spotlight this weekend as No. 4 Alabama (18-3, 7-1) hosts Georgia (15-6, 3-5) on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPN2.