Nate Oats Impressed With Tonight’s Win

If you are an Alabama fan it’s a great Monday night as The Crimson Tide basketball team takes down UNC-Asheville 110-54. Graduate Guard Mark Sears led the team in points this game, with 20 total points, shooting 6-8 FG, 3-4 from the three-point, and 5-6 from the free throw line.

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In a brief post-game press conference with UNC-Asheville Head Coach; Mike Morrell stated, “Coach Oats has a really good team…” continuing with, “They have a championship team from what I have seen.”

Senior transfer, Clifford Omoruyi #11 says “I’m just happy to be here” when asked about how it felt to play his first game in the Crimson and White. With 18:48 minutes played this game, Omoruyi shot 6-6 FG, 4-4 from the free throw line, and had eight rebounds total. It was a great performance from the Rutgers transfer, who dominated for the Scarlet Knights during his time there.

Nate Oats opens the press conference on a positive note as he believes it was a good opening night for his team.

In the opening statement, Nate Oats speaks on having a lot of “young guys that need to get their feet wet.”

Coach Oats speaks on Aden Holloway's performance tonight saying,
“I really like the play where he dived for the loose ball…he didn’t stray from the open threes…he’s a great defender.”

It was a good defensive game for the Crimson Tide as they dominated the defensive rebounding category with 41 defensive rebounds to UNC-Asheville’s 15 defensive rebounds. Alabama also had some blocks and steals during the first half of the game that were critical in getting Alabama a big lead early into the game. Nate Oats spoke on the defense tonight stating, “We can be a great defensive team if we keep the same mindset.”

Reporters asked Oats about Clifford Omoruyi, the senior transfer his contribution to the win. “We’ll limit his minutes more than what he played at Rutgers due to how fast-paced we are.” Said Oats, who continued his statement with, “He will play more minutes in bigger games.”

Oats touches on the decision to redshirt guards Houston Mallette and Naas Cunningham; stating injury for Mallete was a reason for having an offseason with hopes to have a fully healthy guard, as well as helping Cunningham to learn the system with the Crimson Tide team.

This is a great opportunity to make a championship run for this Alabama team as we officially start the 2024 College Basketball season.