Since he took the head coaching job in 2019, Nate Oats has already made significant steps to being one of the greatest basketball coaches in school history. Throughout the last five seasons as the man in charge, Oats continues to make history.
In a 101-56 blowout victory over the Liberty Flames in Legacy Arena, Oats tallied his 100th win of his career at Alabama. A milestone that has only been reached by a few Crimson Tide head coaches in the past, and he did it in just 147 games.
“It feels good,” Oats said. “Obviously, in this business, a lot of coaches don’t get the opportunity to stay super long enough to get to 100. I’ve done well enough that they want to keep me around here long enough to get 100. Hopefully we get 200, 300 and keep it moving.”
Wrapping up the non-conference schedule, the Crimson Tide had absolutely no trouble at the neutral site matchup. With six players finishing in double-figures, points were coming in from left and right.
Leading the charge for Alabama was senior guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. who finished with a season-high 19 points off the bench as he shot 6-for-8 from the field and 5-for-7 from three-point range.
Following Wrightsell with yet another impressive performance was senior guard Aaron Estrada. Getting closer and closer to his first triple-double, Estrada finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists.
“I think it’s just a part of my game, I’m just a playmaker,” Estrada said. “It’s definitely a different role from Hofstra. I’m starting to get the hang of not having to shoot as much as I did. Assists are really easy, just because these guys are making shots too.”
With the win, Oats joins seven other Alabama head coaches with over 100 wins including Wimp Sanderson, C.M. Newton, and Mark Gottfried who all had impressive tenures between the early 1970s up until the late 2000s.
“When you compare yourself to so many good coaches that we’ve had here in the past, there’s a lot of really good teams,” Oats said.
Oats is now the fastest Alabama coach to reach 100 wins, and with a contract that lasts until 2027, there will be many more to come.
“We had some good players, we were left with some really good players from the previous coach,” Oats said. “We were able to recruit some pretty good ones, and we got some great players on the team right now.”
Next up for Alabama is SEC play. The Crimson Tide will travel to Nashville to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores on Jan. 6 at 2:30 p.m. CT to open up the conference schedule in 2024.
