TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball was ready for South Carolina, and Nate Oats wants everyone to know it. Following the Crimson Tide’s 74-47 victory over the Gamecocks on Tuesday night, Oats referenced a comment made by South Carolina guard Myles Stute last month, stating it gave his team motivation.

“South Carolina’s a confident team that’s been winning,” Oats said during his postgame opening statement. “I think Myles Stute had made the comment that the SEC wasn’t ready for South Carolina. We made sure we played for our guys. We made the point that we’ve been the team that’s been winning the SEC here lately, not South Carolina.”

The statement that riled up Oats and Alabama came following South Carolina’s last non-conference game, a win over Florida A&M on Dec. 30. When asked if the Gamecocks were ready for SEC play, Stute responded, “I hope they’re ready for us. That’s my answer. I hope they’re ready for us.”

While the comment does not seem offensive at first glance, try telling that to Oats, who citied it again when explaining a double-technical that was called on South Carolina guard Meechie Johnson and the Alabama bench midway through the second half.

“They said that our guys were kind of talking,” Oats said of the explanation he received from the official. “There was a lot of talking. That run when they came out of the game… there was a lot of talking. Their guys were yelling at our bench for whatever reason, I don’t know.

“They made the statement the SEC isn’t ready for them. I guess we’ll see if the SEC is ready for them. But this SEC team was ready for them.”

South Carolina came out of the game hot, using a 13-3 run to go up 13-6 with 16:02 in the first half. However, Alabama was able to rebound from its rough start, taking a 30-29 lead into the break before outscoring the Gamecocks 44-18 in the second half.

Alabama won both the SEC regular-season and conference tournament titles last season after accomplishing the same feat during the 2021 season. The Crimson Tide (10-5, 2-0 in the SEC) was picked to finish fifth in the SEC by the media while South Carolina (13-2, 1-1) was tabbed to finish in last place in the conference.