Bama Central

Davin Cosby Jr. Thankful Nate Oats Called Out his Defensive Effort

Alabama basketball had its best defensive performance of the season earlier this week and wants to build on that against Mercer on Friday.

Katie Windham

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nate Oats always keeps it real at the podium. There's not a lot of "coach speak" that comes from Oats, but he often shares how he really feels about his team and players. 

On Monday, the Alabama head coach wasn't afraid to call out a few of his young players, Davin Cosby Jr. and Sam Walters, for their defensive play. And he wasn't pleased overall with his team's defensive effort through the first two games. 

The team responded by only giving up 46 points in the win over South Alabama Tuesday night, having by far its best defensive performance of the season. 

Some players might shy away from the public attention from a coach, but Cosby said he was grateful for the way Oats handled the situation. 

"I actually thank him for calling me out," Cosby said. "That’s something we take pride in as a team, trying to just get our defense better as one. When I saw that, I took it personal and had to make sure my defense was great for the next game and the rest of the season.”

The redshirt freshman guard played a season-high of 16 minutes in the win and finished with eight points, two assists and a steal. 

Oats said he saw the team make a big jump defensive from game two to game three, but wants to see another jump Friday night as Alabama closes out its four-game homestand against Mercer at 7 p.m.

"When your defense isn’t there, you’re more prime for upsets," Oats said. "If you have poor shooting nights, you’re not in the game. I think our guys understand that if we’re going to do what we want to do as a team, we’ve gotta be great on the defensive end of the floor. And I didn’t think we were in the scrimmage, the exhibition or the first two games. I do think against South Alabama we were looking a lot better, a lot more like we want to be looking.”

BamaCentral Courtside: No. 22 Alabama 102, South Alabama 46

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Katie Windham
KATIE WINDHAM

Katie Windham is the assistant editor for BamaCentral, primarily covering football, basketball gymnastics and softball. She is a two-time graduate of the University of Alabama and has covered a variety of Crimson Tide athletics since 2019 for outlets like The Tuscaloosa News, The Crimson White and the Associated Press before joining BamaCentral full time in 2021. Windham has covered College Football Playoff games, the Women's College World Series, NCAA March Madness, SEC Tournaments and championships in multiple sports. 

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