Alabama Looks to Build Off Huge Win in Missouri Rematch

After the roughest stretch Alabama men's basketball has had in nearly two years with losses to Missouri, Auburn, and Mississippi State, the Crimson Tide was able to right the ship on Wednesday night with a massive win at home against one of the best teams in the SEC in the LSU Tigers.

Alabama's difficult stretch and three-game losing streak started on the road at the hands of Missouri, a team that at the time was struggling. Alabama simply came out flat and not ready to play against the Tigers.

Now, just two weeks later, the Crimson Tide has a chance to play Missouri again, this time in front of its home fans at Coleman Coliseum and with the knowledge that the Tigers are a dangerous team that can come out firing to win. But head coach Nate Oats is trying to keep his team focused simply on playing better with more effort rather than on getting revenge against Missouri.

"I think you don't wanna get into the whole revenge and extra motivation thing here, to me it's play the right way every time," Oats said in his media availability Friday morning. "It's more are we gonna be mature enough to play hard like we are supposed to. We haven't really talked about revenge, more so just that this is what this team is capable of doing if you don't play hard and guard them. We need to be mature and play hard no matter who the opponent is."

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While Alabama will likely be missing Juwan Gary due to the facial contusion he suffered against LSU. The Tide will have James Rojas this time around, someone who certainly specializes in effort and toughness, something Alabama severely lacked in the first matchup against Missouri.