Blue Collar Toughness Showed Up When Shots Weren't Falling for Alabama Basketball

The Crimson Tide dominated the boards for Alabama's highest rebound total of the Nate Oats era in the season-opening win against Longwood.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nate Oats has always preached blue collar basketball. And at the start of his fourth season as the Alabama head coach, his team got off on the right foot in that department Monday night.

From the opening whistle, No. 20 Alabama was the most physical team on the floor in the 72-54 win over Longwood.

Alabama charts things like rebounding, blocks, steals and diving for loose balls to determine "blue collar points." At each TV timeout, the support staff shows the team the blue collar points for the previous four-minute period. The Crimson Tide led Longwood after every period and 112 to 69 for the game. 

Oats recognized that the rebounds can't reach that total unless the defense is good enough in the first place to miss forced shots. He was proud of the way Alabama executed in the three areas of emphasis heading into the game— transition defense, 3-point defense and second-chance points. 

"It’s a defensive thing every practice," freshman Brandon Miller said after the game. "We always go hard against each other and make each other better. So that’s something we really take pride in— defense, offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds.”

Miller said it took a little time to get settled in for his first game and shake off the nerves, but he eventually ended up having fun with his teammates. Miller tied with fellow freshmen Rylan Griffen for the team lead in points. Both guys finished with 14 points. 

On a night when shots weren't falling on offense, the effort was still there on defense. Alabama was dominant on the boards, out-rebounding the Lancers 67 to 38. For reference on how dominating this rebounding performance was, the previous highest total rebounds Alabama had recorded under Oats was 55 against Jacksonville State in 2020. 

"Sometimes I think when guys’ offense goes bad, they quit playing hard," Oats said after the game. "I didn’t think we had much of that tonight. We couldn’t make a three, turned the ball over too much and guys just kept playing hard. So I was pretty happy with our effort and our competitiveness.”

Four players (Miller, Griffen, Noah Clowney and Charles Bediako) finished with double-digit rebounds. In their Crimson Tide debuts, Miller (14 points, 13 rebounds) and Sears (12 points, 10 rebounds) recorded double-doubles.  Clowney was one point away from a double-double.

"We've got a lot more length and athleticism than we did a year ago," Oats said. "Even Sears went in and got 10 rebounds. So our guards are a little tougher, gritty a little bit more physical."

The Crimson Tide's length difference over the Lancers (and even compared to last year's Alabama team) was evident. Oats has a much taller and longer roster to work with this year, and it resulted in swarming defense. The Crimson Tide had nine blocks. Nick Pringle had three, while Charles Bediako and Clowney both added two. There were only four times all of last season that Alabama finished with at least nine blocks. 

"We're gonna put lineups out there that can really defend, show some length out there, and we can be a little creative with it too," Oats said about the potential of Alabama's lineups with the length and depth it has.

Tough defense isn't going away anytime soon for Oats. Freshman Rylan Griffen says that Oats talks more about defense than offense in practice.

"I think you're gonna see our defenses markedly improved this year, and it’s been a huge point emphasis," he said. "I’m just not gonna play guys if they’re not gonna guard.”

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