TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Will Wade knows a thing or two about facing Nate Oats-led Alabama teams. He’s faced off against Oats seven times total and three times when Oats was at Alabama and Wade was the head coach at LSU.

Now with McNeese, Wade tried his hand against the Crimson Tide yet again. The Cowboys 72-64, but Wade’s side fought valiantly, pestering Alabama on defense with a constant press and strong half-court sets that frustrated the Tide’s offense. Wade coached a strong game and even gave the Alabama student section a thumbs up after he received a chorus of boos for arguing with a call. Having some history against Alabama, Wade jokingly reflected on his first time back in a road SEC arena.

“It was about as welcoming as I remembered the last time I was in one,” Wade said with a smile. “But, I mean look, it was a good experience for our kids. It’s a great experience for our school. Great exposure for our school and program. So I’m more pleased with that.”

Wade was proud of his team’s effort after the game Saturday. But the McNeese coach also gave his former sparring partner Oats and Alabma foe their flowers after the game.

“Told him I wouldn’t talk him up too much because I didn’t want to put too much pressure on him,” Wade said. “But that is a tremendous SEC team, and probably the best team the SEC’s had in quite some time.”

Wade, who won an SEC regular season title with LSU in 2019, had a similar sentiment that many coaches and analysts have shared about what makes Alabama such a tough side in 2024-25. He praised the Tide’s depth, particularly in the frontcourt along with Alabama's improved ability on the defensive end.

“He’s got two of everything," Wade said of Oats' roster. "I think it’s the most committed — they don’t even have [Chris] Youngblood, right? He’s a stud. I mean, look, they’re redshirting kids that would start on other teams in the league. So I mean it’s a really good team. I think [Clifford Omoruyi] changes their team, the big kid that’s what they were missing last year. Just having a big kid who can play in drop coverage.

“I mean, look we hit a bunch of midrange jump shots tonight, not the best shot. That was the best shot we could get. So sometimes oatmeal is better than no meal. So if you’re not going to get a shot you better take the best one you can get even if it’s not the best shot. But I think the big kid, him and [Aiden] Sherrell kind of change everything — allow them to play defensively how they want to. Offensively, they’re as good as ever, and Sears is tremendous.”

Alabama managed to navigate past a well-coached mid-major side led by a former Power Four coach Saturday. While Oats avoided a third defeat to Wade, his side learned a lot about what it needs to build on going forward as it prepares for a gauntlet of upcoming games, starting with No. 13 Purdue on Friday. After a hard-fought game between familiar coaching foes, the feeling that both teams faced a quality opponent was mutual

“We knew they were gonna be a good team,” Oats said of McNeese. “We knew they were gonna be really athletic. Those guys are gonna beat a lot of good teams this year. They’re picked to win their league for a reason. You’ve gotta give them a ton of credit. They made a lot of tough shots. They shot 11 of 22 on non-rim 2s and most of them were pretty contested. So they kind of defied the percentages there a little, and you just gotta give them a ton of credit for how hard they played and how they stayed in there.”