Mizzou Arena has been a source of misery for Nate Oats and Alabama basketball. Since taking over the Crimson Tide in 2019, the head coach has dropped all three of his trips to Missouri, marking the only SEC venue he’s coached at and failed to secure a win.

Saturday’s matchup shouldn’t be easy either. No. 4 Alabama is set to take on a Missouri team that has won its last five games at home, including a 79-76 win over No. 25 Arkansas earlier this week as well as upsets against then-No. 19 Kentucky and then-No. 16 Illinois last month.

Taming the Tigers on the court will be tough enough, but the Crimson Tide will also have to deal with the challenge of tuning out a potentially raucous student section during an emotional time for the program.

It’s been a turbulent week for Alabama following Sunday’s arrest of Darius Miles on charges of capital murder. The former Alabama player was one of two men arrested for the fatal shooting of Jamea Jones Harris, a 23-year-old mother of a 5-year-old.

Along with taking an emotional toll on Alabam’s team, the situation could also place a target on the Crimson Tide’s back when it comes to facing criticism from opposing fans. Friday, Oats said that wasn’t a problem during Tuesday night’s 78-66 victory at Vanderbilt. However, Alabama could face a rowdier bunch in Columbia, Missouri on Saturday.

“I’ve talked to our team about that,” Oats said. “Basically I told them this: if people want to be ignorant and say things that are completely out of line — and in this case, I would think, this isn’t a case where somebody got into some trouble. These are serious matters. There’s a 5-year-old, Kaine, that doesn’t have a mother anymore.

“This is not, to me, something that students should be joking about. If somebody does happen to say something, I just told our guys, you’ve got to be strong enough, tough enough. We’re here to play basketball. We know who we are, what we’ve done. We’re not -- if they’re yelling things at us, they’re completely out of line. Ignore them. Move on.”

It’s not just in-person heckling either. Oats has also warned his players about potential abuse they may face over social media, urging them to take the same collected approach.

“Nobody has any idea what we’re going through in our shoes during these instances,” Oats said. “It’s a hard situation to be in. If some idiots on social media want to come after you, they’re showing how ignorant they are.”

On the surface, Alabama’s back-to-back road games this week aren’t ideal given the mental strain the team is going through. However, Oats said the time away from home has actually been beneficial for his players, serving as a distraction from what has been a rollercoaster week.

“To be honest with you, the two road trips back to back after the whole incident happened is not the worst thing to happen,” Oats said. “You get on the road, spend some time together, healing together, talking through it. I think it’s actually a good situation.”

Alabama was unable to fly back from Tuesday night’s game and instead traveled back to Tuscaloosa from Nashville by bus. The impromptu road trip involved a late-night stop at popular gas station chain Buc-ee’s as players shared laughs while stocking up on snacks.

Freshman forward Brandon Miler, who grew up in the Nashville area, even jokingly offered to host the team at his house if needed.

“I got on the microphone to talk over the bus and told them what the scenario was,” Oats said. “Brandon shot me a text from the back of the bus and said, ‘sleepover at the Miller house.’ I said ‘All 50 of us?’ He said, ‘Yeah, it’d be about as tight as it is on this bus.”

According to Oats, Alabama has been able to undergo its typical schedule this week, taking Wednesday off before resuming film evaluation and practice on Thursday and Friday. Alabama (16-2, 6-0 in the SEC) and Missouri (14-4, 3-3) are set to tipoff at 5:30 p.m. CT on Saturday.

“Everybody's still taking it day by day,” Oats said. “Everyone processes things differently. And also, I mean, different guys are feeling different ways each day but continuing to lean on the support of each other.”