Oats Prepping Alabama for Clemson

Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats met with the media Monday ahead of Tuesday's 8:30 matchup at home against Clemson in the SEC/ACC Challenge. Here's a look at Oats' remarks.

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Opening statement

"Practice went a little long. Trying to get the defense figured out. We got beat off the dribble too much.

"Clemson has the two top returning scorers in the ACC in PJ Hall and Joe Girard. The transfers they got average 48 points a a game. They're very good and experienced, We're going to have to play significantly better."

On Rylan Griffen

"He's really been all about the right stuff. When you focus in and lock in on playing the right way... it comes and it flows and you end up playing well on offense.

"He's a great shooter and he will continue to put the work in."

On the defense

"I thought Sears was our best perimeter defender against Oregon. If we get eight or nine guys with that mindset, we can be pretty good.

"We're not doing a great job of closing the possession out.

"Some of the guys that are freshman want to be good."

On rim protection

"Last year we had Charles as rim protector. Mo Wague showed some signs. Nelson had some blocks. We've got to get more consistent rim protection. Grant [Nelson] can give us that.

"Jarin Stevenson is a lot better than he even knows."

On hosting Clemson

"Clemson to me has been an underrated ACC team.

"We need our bigs to rebound the ball better.

"This game means a lot. We need the crowd to show up big."

You can hear the game on Tide 100.9 FM, 95.3 The Bear, and AM 1230 WTBC.

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