Nate Oats calls for Alabama to maintain intensity ahead of LSU matchup

Alabama might have unlocked a new level of intensity following its victory over No. 8 Auburn on Wednesday. Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats was quick to recognize his side’s effort to keep a balanced Tigers team at bay.

“Felt like we finally got a win where our offense wasn't necessarily clicking that great,” Oats said Friday. “It's a little bit more about toughness, defense and grit. I was proud of our guys.”

Oats wasn’t strictly positive about Alabama’s best win of the season. He added that the Crimson Tide didn’t play anywhere near its full capabilities. Alabama had its share of individual offensive struggles. It shot just 11-for-31 on layup attempts and was 3-for-13 from beyond the arc in the second half. Starting guard Aaron Estrada didn’t score a point and finished with a minus-17 rating. Center Nick Pringle ran into foul trouble and had just two points and two rebounds.

Where the Crimson Tide overcame that, however, was by making the plays Oats dubs as “blue-collar, and showed a winning edge that it hasn’t shown against an elite opponent this season. Despite Pringle’s low rebounding output, Alabama beat Auburn on the class 46-41 and collected 16 offensive rebounds. The Tide finished with 84 blue-collar points, which is the second most it's accumulated against a ranked opponent this season.

The Crimson Tide seems to have found its rhythm when it comes to hustle plays. As a result, Alabama (RECORD) is sharing a spot atop the conference standings ahead of its next game against LSU (RECORD) on Saturday.

Until the Auburn game, Alabama’s best performance in SEC play came against Mississippi State. The Tide prevented the Bulldogs from slowing the pace of the game down and made life difficult for forward Tolu Smith. Alabama finished with 99 blue-collar points, tied for the second most it's racked up against an opponent this season. Grant Nelson, who was Smith's primary defender won the team’s Hard Hat Award with 21 blue-collar points.

Nelson won the Hard Hat Award again Wednesday, during Alabama's best performance against ranked team. Oats’ tried-and-true metric has once again become an indicator of Alabama’s success. Four of the Crimson Tide’s six losses this season were also its four lowest blue-collar point totals (Ohio State: 53.5, Purdue: 70.5, Creighton: 77.5, Tennessee: 79.5). Alabama also had just 79.5 blue-collar points in its three-point win over Vanderbilt.

In Alabama’s other two losses to Arizona and Clemson, the blue-collar points were high but weren’t balanced by a typical Crimson Tide offensive performance. The Tide had 98.5 blue-collar points against the Wildcats but shot a woeful 33.8% from the field and 20% from 3. Alabama shot just 31.4% from beyond the arc against Clemson and prevented the Tigers from getting quality looks themselves despite 92.5 blue-collar points.

The games where Alabama’s blue-collar and offensive performances are skewed one way or the other are exactly what Oats hopes to eliminate. Alabama will likely be favored in its next three games against LSU, Georgia and another bout with Mississippi State. That gives the Tide three opportunities to have a complete performance on both ends of the floor and in blue-collar points, before it's rematch with Auburn on Feb. 7.

“In the past when we've won the SEC, we've had some dominating wins from start to finish,” Oats said. “We haven't had any of those yet. I'm not saying we'll be able to do that against LSU per se, they're a really good team. But at some point here when we're playing some of these teams that we know we're better than… we need to have a dominating win where it's first four minutes we're up, everybody knows who the better team is, everybody knows who's playing harder that night.”

While Oats has yet to see Alabama’s elite offense, scrappy defense and high-energy plays come together in one game, the Tide's blue-collar performance against Auburn suggests that it might have turned the corner in terms of competing with better opponents. Going forward, Alabama will need to treat every game like it is one against its archrival if the Tide aims to be where Oats has guided it in recent seasons.