Oats, No. 2 Alabama Focused on the Right Here, Right Now

The Crimson Tide has a one-game lead in the SEC with four games to go — but it all starts with a contest on the road in Columbia.

Austin Hannon | Feb 21, 2023

Oats, No. 2 Alabama Focused on the Right Here, Right Now /

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Alabama Crimson Tide

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama Crimson Tide has four games remaining on its schedule.

At this moment, the Crimson Tide (23-4, 13-1 SEC) holds a one-game advantage on Texas A&M in the race for an SEC regular season championship.

Alabama has games against Arkansas and Auburn at Coleman Coliseum still on the calendar before a trip to College Station to take on the Aggies in the regular season finale on March 4.

But first, the Crimson Tide has a maturity game if you will in Columbia against the South Carolina Gamecocks.

“We’ve got four games left in the regular season — they’re all big,” head coach Nate Oats said. “The regular season championship is in our hands. We’re in full control of it if we take care of business. […] We’ve stressed the importance of coming ready to play. I think South Carolina has been trending in the right direction. They’ve got good momentum going — they’re playing their best basketball now. […] They’re one of the better shooting teams in our league. We’re going to have to guard the 3-point line well.”

The Gamecocks (10-17, 3-11 SEC) currently sit in 12th place in the SEC, but they have been playing competitive basketball as of late. South Carolina is coming off of a win at LSU on Saturday — and it also won at Ole Miss on Feb. 11.

Winning in Columbia is a must for Alabama if it plans on winning the SEC — and Oats is more than aware of that.

“We’re going to take it one at a time,” Oats said. “I think when you start to look at Arkansas, Auburn and [Texas A&M], all the sudden you screw up the South Carolina one in front of you. […] We’ve got a great situation in front of us. I think most teams would love to be in full control of their destiny with four games left.”

The Crimson Tide lost at Oklahoma on Jan. 28 and at No. 11 Tennessee a week ago. It will need to be sharp for what should be a tough road environment at Colonial Life Arena with the top team in the conference coming in.

“I talked to our guys about playing well on the road today before practice,” Oats said. “We need to have more consistency. […] We’re not going to be playing in Coleman [Coliseum] in the SEC tournament and NCAA tournament.”

The Gamecocks have a future lottery pick in GG Jackson II. The former five-star recruit is playing for his hometown team, averaging 15.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.

“He’s super talented,” Oats said. “He shoots it well, he’s got a great mid-range game, he gets to the rim, he can handle [the ball]. […] He’s a projected first-round pick. He’s good. He’s really good.”

Alabama’s final four-game stretch begins in Columbia on Wednesday night. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

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