Alabama Basketball Eyeing Perfection

Tuscaloosa, AL—On Monday afternoon, Nate Oats stepped up to the podium inside Coleman Coliseum later than usual, stating that practice had run long.

"Practice went a little long, trying not to have a repeat of last week," said Oats. "We're repeating until we get it right, had to do a few drills over again."

However, this year, perfection will be hard to come by in the SEC. With nine of the current AP top 25 teams and four of the top six, the SEC slate is set to be a gauntlet night in and night out.

This notion proved to be true for the Crimson Tide last week.

Alabama underwent a rollercoaster of a week, dropping their midweek matchup against then-No. 21 Ole Miss in a sloppy 74-64 loss, followed by an impressive 102-97 victory over the then-No. 8 Kentucky Wildcat—their first victory in Rupp Arena for the Tide against a top-ten Wildcats squad since 2002.

Practice started poorly, per Oats: "The start of it wasn't great. We got it right. We got it right pretty quick. I'd personally like to see them start it off great on their own. But like I told them before, if they can't do that, I'm not gonna let it be a bad practice.

"I thought the defensive effort in practice picked up because we're not having a repeat of what we had last week," Oats said. "I think you'll see a lot better effort out of the group starting the game out."

"It turned out to be a great practice. It just took a little longer than it should have," added Oats.

 Oats then turned his attention to Tuesday's matchup against Vanderbilt:

"This is a very good Vanderbilt team as evidenced by the weekend game against Tennessee, [...] I believe they're No. 1 in the country in points per game off turnovers. So a huge game for us in taking care of the ball, not giving them points off turnovers." Oats said about the 15-3 Commodores.

"I think we've got our guys' attention," added Oats.

Coach Oats also touched on the status of Alabama wing Derrion Reid, who has missed the past two games with a lower-body injury.

"He'll probably be questionable for tomorrow. It's one of those injuries where if you bring him back too fast it could be season-long lingering with how he plays."

Reid has been a vital piece of the Crimson Tide rotation, recording 8.1 points and 3.4 rebounds a game while also playing stout defense.

For more Alabama Baseball, Basketball, and Football content from Simon Besnoy, follow him on X/Twitter at @SimonBesnoy and stay tuned to Tide1009.com for daily news.