SI

Alabama Players Crash Nate Oats Postgame Interview After Win vs. St Mary's

For good reason though!

Brigid Kennedy

Nate Oats speaks to the media after Alabama's win on March 23, 2025.
Nate Oats speaks to the media after Alabama's win on March 23, 2025. / CBS Sports / X / Screensho
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The Alabama Crimson Tide punched their ticket to their third-straight Sweet 16 after defeating the Saint Mary's Gaels 80–66 in the men's NCAA tournament on Sunday evening. And such a big win requires an equally big celebration, of course, which is why head coach Nate Oats surely wasn't bothered when his team surrounded him and crashed his postgame interview.

Oats was in the middle of speaking when he spotted the players making their way over, at which point he pretty instantly dropped the facade to crack a big smile. He was then draped in a sweat towel before getting back into it, and as he talked, the players continued goofing off in the background.

Watch that below:

Without catching Oats's full interview, it would seem he was talking a bit about how the team managed to spread the love tonight—and that they did. Six different Alabama players scored between 10 and 13 points on Sunday, and those that didn't still put up a solid effort in the form of rebounds and assists.

With the victory over the Gaels, the Crimson Tide will next play No. 6 BYU on Thursday, March 27.

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Brigid Kennedy
BRIGID KENNEDY

Brigid Kennedy is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sporting news and culture at TheWeek.com before moving to Livingetc, an interior design magazine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, dual majoring in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing managment (from the Whitman School of Management). Offline, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and watching the Steelers.

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