Alabama Welcomes 'Hottest Team in SEC' to Coleman Coliseum
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama just had its hottest shooting performance of the season at Ole Miss on Wednesday night, but the opponent this Saturday is coming off an even bigger performance.
The Arkansas Razorbacks (19-5, 8-3 SEC) took down No. 1 Auburn in overtime inside Bud Walton Arena Tuesday night and are riding a nine-game win streak into Saturday's matchup inside Coleman Coliseum.
"I mean it's a huge game for us," said Alabama (15-9, 5-6 SEC) head coach Nate Oats. "We get the hottest team in the SEC at home. They've won nine straight, they're playing great, just knocked off Auburn, so they're obviously on a high. [JD] Notae's playing as well as anyone in the league."
The Razorbacks' senior guard Notae leads the SEC in scoring at 19.1 points per game. Oats said Alabama will have to do a better job on him than they did on Wednesday against Jarkel Joiner from Ole Miss who scored 33 points on the Crimson Tide. Notae has been in double figures scoring every game this season.
"Our matchups on Joiner are going to be similar matchups with Notae, and they've got to do a way better job on Notae tomorrow," Oats said.
Against Kentucky last weekend, Alabama played well defensively but was stone cold from the floor, especially from the three-point line (3-30.) In Wednesday's 97-83 win over Ole Miss, the Crimson Tide shot 60 percent from the floor and 14-22 from three. The head coach was pleased with his team's offensive performance against the Rebels, but did not like the way the defense seemed to let up once the shots started falling.
Like he's been asking for all season, Oats wants to see a complete 40-minute performance on both sides of the ball against the Razorbacks. Arkansas is fourth in the league in scoring at 78.6 points per game.
"I told our guys after the Ole Miss game, I don't want to overreact to a win," Oats said. "I don't want to overreact a loss. Like if we just shot the ball average from three against Kentucky, we probably would've beat them. If we shot the ball average from three against Ole Miss, we might've lost the game. We've got to control the things we can control a little bit better."
One of the uncontrollable factors for this game is the 11 a.m. tipoff time, but they can control they effort and energy they bring that early. Alabama senior forward Noah Gurley said sleep becomes very important leading up to this game. The team practices in the mornings, so it's not as if it is something that they're not used to.
Oats is hopeful that some free coffee and doughnuts is enough to incentivize the student section to show up to Coleman Coliseum in time for the early tip.
"We've got to really take care of home court advantage," Oats said. "We've had a great home court advantage. The student section has been great. Hopefully coffee and doughnuts get them out here at 11 a.m. We've had an unbelievable student section for every home game in the SEC and the non-conference as well. We're excited to play. I think our guys are excited."