Oats Reflects on Alabama's 117-115 Double OT Win Over Arkansas

Alabama's head coach, Nate Oats, shared his thoughts on the Crimson Tide's 117-115 double overtime win over No.20 Arkansas on Wednesday night, which saw Labaron Philon lead the Crimson Tide with a career high 35 points. Oats shared his thoughts on his team's win, what he told them going into the second overtime, and what he expects from his point guard when he's facing other great guards.

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Oats started his press conference praising the Razorbacks' guard Darius Acuff Jr., who played 50 minutes in Wednesday's game, which saw him record 49 points against the Tide, with three of those coming right before the end of regulation to send this game to overtime.

"and Acuff played 50 minutes, and scored 49 points obviously our defense wasn't really good on him, particularly in the first half but i mean after halftime he had 27 (points), so he's a good player we gotta do a better job as coaches to have a better gameplan, i did think we had a little bit better of a game plan late, and i mean he hit some tough shots and you know got to the free throw line."

Alabama's defensive game plan in the first half looked no match for Acuff, and the Razorbacks' offense shot 60% from the field and 61.5% from three, making 8-13 from deep. This changed drastically in the second half as the Crimson Tide forced Arkansas to shoot 45% from the floor and 36.4% from beyond the arc, with John Calipari's Razorbacks making 4-11 threes in the second half.

Oats spoke about Alabama sophomore forward Aiden Sherrell's performance tonight, which saw Sherrell score a career high and record a double-double, finishing with 26 points and 13 rebounds, with ten of those rebounds coming in the second half and overtime. Oats mentioned that Sherrell played almost 40 minutes in Wednesday's double-overtime victory, and the Detroit native was out there for 39 minutes tonight, which was only the second time this season he has had 30 minutes in a game.

"Got to give our guys a lot of credit, you know, Aiden Sherrell, who typically hasn't been able to play for 30 minutes, played almost 40 minutes, went 26 (points) and 13 (rebounds) and 10-13 from the field, and 6-7 from the free-throw line." Oats added, "He played hard, and he played well. Switched him and put him on some guys in the second half, and I thought for the most part he did a good job."

The Crimson Tide's head coach also touched on Philon's play, which saw him pick up a career-high in points, and he finished tonight's game with only two turnovers while racking up seven assists. Oats also touched on what he wanted from his star guard in this game against another premier guard in the conference.

"I didn't want him (Philon) thinking that he needed to outscore Acuff; we need to think about what it took to win the game. His defense on Acuff, his playmaking ability." Oats added, "When he plays these other really good guards, we just need to get the win. His version of outplaying them needs to be better defense, better leadership, better ball movement, and better floor leadership."

Oats shared his message with his guys going into the second overtime, when both teams were tied at 105, and the Razorbacks had to go deep on their bench because four players fouled out: Nick Pringle, DJ Wagner, Maleek Thomas, and Billy Richmond III.

"I said they're running out of guys, they're running out of steam. I said Acuff hasn't been out of the game yet. They got multiple guys with four fouls, and we gotta run, so we should be the more fresh team." Oats added, "I said the best way to run them is to get stops. We gotta get stops, and we gotta run, and we're not turning this into a walk-it-up game."

Oats and the Crimson Tide are in a great spot in the conference standings after tonight's win over Arkansas. Alabama will prepare for its game this weekend against LSU in Baton Rouge on Saturday, with tipoff scheduled at 5 p.m.

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