TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats made one thing clear during his press conference on Thursday ahead of the Crimson Tide’s matchup against Arkansas State. His choice to schedule the Red Wolves as well as Alabama’s next game against McNeese State wasn’t to give Alabama an easy win.

“I don’t wanna play a game where we can play bad and still win the game,” Oats said. “That doesn’t make you better.”

Alabama has one of the toughest nonconference schedules in the country. The Tide’s upcoming matchups against the likes of Houston, North Carolina and Purdue might make games against Arkansas State and McNeese easy to overlook. But the Red Wolves and Cowboys have achieved strong success in recent seasons, which made both teams appealing for Alabama to add to its gauntlet of a schedule.

Under former Alabama assistant Bryan Hodgson, Arkansas State won 20 games and reached the Sun Belt Championship game in his first season. McNeese saw similar success with another coach that Oats has plenty of familiarity with. The Cowboys are led by former LSU coach Will Wade, who Oats has faced seven times, including the 2021 SEC Championship game when he was with the Tigers. Last year Wade won 30 games with the Cowboys and earned a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Entering his sixth season with the Crimson Tide, Oats has become all too familiar with the results that can happen if he doesn’t get his side ready to play a feisty mid-major foe. After leading Alabama to unprecedented success in his tenure, he thinks the benefits of challenging his team against a top mid-major far outweigh the risks of an embarrassing loss, which Oats has encountered during his time at Alabama.

“Our first game ever here we played Penn that was probably stupid,” Oats said. “We weren’t ready at the time but we lost it. So I think we’re playing teams that you could lose to. Maybe it bites you at some point but I think over the long run it helps you because it makes your guys come ready to play every night. I think it gets you ready for conference play a lot better than playing bad teams. And we’re gonna continue playing good teams so the good mid-majors are gonna call us and we’re gonna keep scheduling them up.”

Oats has taken a holistic approach to scheduling to prepare his players for the most important tests in March, which includes scheduling the best mid-major programs he can. As Alabama prepares for its second game of the season, the Tide is hungry to continue looking like the dominant team it was in its 110-54 demolition of UNC Asheville. Should Alabama continue to play at that level and not overlook its next two matchups it should be able to cruise and avoid learning any lessons the hard way.

“If we play bad tomorrow night we’re gonna lose,” Oats said. “If we play bad Monday night we’re gonna lose. Now, if both teams play to their potential we should win both those games. But we can’t play bad. I don’t want a game where we play bad and still get a win. So we have to bring it on Friday night we’re gonna have to bring it on Monday night.”