Oats After Win Over USF: ‘We Gotta do a Better Job of Keeping Guys off the Glass’

After Alabama’s 104-93 win over USF, Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats expressed frustration with his team’s rebounding, as USF edged Alabama 46-45 on the boards Wednesday. 

Get our free mobile app

Oats gave his team credit for the outstanding rebounding effort in the first half, which saw the Tide outrebound USF by ten boards, with Alabama finishing the half with 33 compared to USF’s 23.

This was also the first game this season in which the Crimson Tide had three players record seven rebounds, with four players finishing with at least seven: Aden Sherrell (7), Houston Mallette (7), and Taylor Bol-Bowen (9). 

“I was pleased with our effort coming out. We’ve been emphasizing the rebounding issues. We’re up ten in the first half, so I think they’ve got the messaging. That they’re trying.” Oats said, “It’s the first time all year we’ve had more than three guys with seven rebounds.”

The second half is where they began to struggle on the boards with USF outrebounding Alabama in the second half by 11 boards, with the Bulls having 24 rebounds compared to Alabama’s 13 second-half rebounds. One thing Oats pointed out was that the Bulls finished the game with 25 offensive rebounds while recording only 25 defensive rebounds. 

“I thought the rebounding was good for a half. I thought it was solid at the beginning of the second half, and then it kind of fell apart. They ended up getting 25 O boards (offensive rebounds),” Oats added, “We had 25 D Boards (defensive rebounds), they had 25 O boards. It’s just not ideal, like we just got to continue to work it. We got to continue to get better. We’ve got to have guys that can rebound it. We got to continue to look at it, continue to look at our lineups.”

Oats shared that they used different lineups, pairing good rebounders with defenders and shooters. He praised guards Aden Holloway (24 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds) and Houston Mallette (14 points, 1 assist, 7 rebounds) for strong performances. 

“We kinda challenged even the guards to rebound. I thought Holloway did a really good job tonight. He had four defensive rebounds. He and Houston [Mallette] led the team in defensive rebounding, so I thought it was good for him in that regard.” Oats said, “We kinda made the lineup change to get rotations with better rebounders mixed together with so many other guys. We can’t have all the guys that maybe aren’t rebounding as well in there together. We just had too many of them that didn’t rebound very well in there together, so we tried to mix up and do that a little bit, but we will continue to work on it and emphasize it.”

Oats brought up how USF’s leading scorers in tonight’s game are the same guys who led their team in rebounds, with the head coach mentioning how rebounding and effort lead to points, and that shows when the Bulls’ leading scorer, Izaiyah Nelson, finished the game with 25 points, also led USF in rebounding with 12 boards. 

“Offensive rebounding leads to scores, your effort leads to scores like we got to continue to get our guys to get in there and realize it’s a weapon.” Oats said, “Our defense man, we gotta do a better job at keeping guys off the glass.”

Alabama’s freshman forward London Jemison left after nine minutes with a knee injury; he had three points and three rebounds. 

“It would’ve been nice if London [Jemison] could’ve played the second half. I think he would’ve added to the rebounding. I thought he did a pretty good job. He had just nine minutes; he had three (rebounds) in the first half.” Oats added, “He’s got a knee injury that I'm hoping’s not too severe. He’s going to get a test done tomorrow morning. We’ll let him know more about it tomorrow afternoon.” 

Amari Allen missed Wednesday’s game due to a hip pointer, which he suffered during Alabama’s loss to No.1 Arizona on Saturday. 

“Amari [Allen] didn’t play either; he had a hip pointer, and we’ll see how he’s doing.” Oats said, “We're off tomorrow, and we'll see how he's doing Friday, Saturday, and make a decision whether he plays Sunday or not.”

Oats and his team will look to get back at it this Sunday, December 21, against Kennesaw State in the Rocket City Classic in the Propst Arena in Huntsville, Alabama. 

Follow @Micahnichols0 on X (formerly Twitter) and listen to Tide100.9 for the latest Alabama basketball, baseball, and football updates.