Nick Saban's daughter has unique reaction as Nate Oats' Alabama faces devastating 102-88 loss against Florida: "Well"
For the first time in his tenure as Alabama Crimson Tide coach, Nate Oats won't be playing for the SEC Tournament title after losing to the Florida Gators 102-88 in the quarterfinals on Friday night.
Oats has led the No. 3 seed Alabama Crimson Tide to two regular season and two Southeastern Conference Tournament titles, and the loss to the No. 6 seed Gators can be classified as an upset loss.
Kristen Saban, the daughter of former Alabama football coach Nick Saban, apparently had a unique reaction to the loss on X, writing cryptically:
"Well."
Nate Oats explains the loss
The Alabama Crimson Tide have lost momentum towards the end of the season, losing three of their last four games, including the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
During his postgame news conference, Nate Oats revealed what he told his team after the loss.
"I talked to them after the game: Adversity happens," Oats said. "You miss a shot. Ref misses a call. Teammate misses you being open. You can see guys’ heads drop. Intensity is not there on defense. Bad defensive possession, they score, we don’t come back pushing the ball with pace on offense. Makes the next offensive possession harder.
"It’s the snowball effect."
He also spoke positively about the rest of the postseason for his team as they head to the NCAA Tournament in a few days.
"Obviously, we'd like to be playing [Saturday], playing for an SEC tournament championship, but we're in the NCAA tournament," Oats said. "You know, the 13 years before we got here, they'd only played two. This will be four straight for us, so we've got the program headed in the right direction."
Nate Oats signs contract extension
A few hours before the loss, Alabama Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne announced on X that coach Nate Oats would sign a long-term deal subject to confirmation by the institution's Board of Trustees.
“We are excited about the success of our men’s basketball program and Nate’s continued commitment to the university,” Byrne said in a statement posted on X. “We look forward to him leading our men’s basketball program for many years to come.”
The controversial coach has compiled a 113-52 overall, 62-28 SEC record during his four-year tenure in Tuscaloosa.
Nate Oats has led the Crimson Tide to a 21-11 overall, 13-6 SEC record this season and will be in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time, the same number they had combined in the last 15 years.