The\u00a0Alabama Crimson Tide men\u2019s\u00a0basketball program has brought new life to the sport on campus\u00a0under Nate Oats\u00a0over the last half decade or so, and Saturday night in Coleman Coliseum was the perfect representation of just how much.<\/p>\n
With the\u00a0Auburn Tigers in town\u00a0and a chance to potentially end the tournament hopes for the program\u2019s most hated rival, the stakes were high, and the crowd was absolutely on fire from the opening tip.<\/p>\n
While Alabama ultimately took the game 96-84, it was largely a domination from the Tide and things got out of hand quickly.<\/p>\n
Afterwards, Oats thanked the students for the energy they brought into the building.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of positives to come from this game. We have the best student section in the SEC, and I really appreciate what they\u2019ve given us all year,\u201d Oats said before speaking about the three seniors that were honored after the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to get a win on senior night. The three we celebrated are some of the best seniors as far as culture-wise. I am very disappointed Houston Mallette didn\u2019t get to score on senior night. He doesn\u2019t really care, and to me, that\u2019s why he\u2019s so great,\u201d he continued. \u201cHe just cared that we won and that he ended up winning the hard hat. (Latrell) Wrightsell has come on great, and he didn\u2019t score it as well as he has been tonight. Noah (Williamson) has been great with his attitude and with everything we need from him, so those three guys to get a win on senior night, I couldn\u2019t be happier for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Alabama, next up is the SEC Tournament in Nashville, where they have earned the No. 2 seed after finishing the regular season with a 23-8 record and 13-5 conference record.<\/p>\n
They will face either Georgia or the winner or Ole Miss vs. Texas on Wednesday night after earning a double bye into the quarterfinals, which will begin on Friday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"