Alabama Basketball’s Defensive Intensity: Just a Minute
The No. 4 Alabama men’s basketball team snapped a two-game losing streak against No. 17 Kentucky on Saturday, winning 96-83 against the Wildcats to complete a big season sweep.
A lot stood out about the performance, including the Crimson Tide (22-5, 11-3 SEC) recovering after another tough start. One of those things was defense. Head coach Nate Oats said postgame that there was a zero-tolerance policy for poor effort.
It was enforcement of that policy which led to a lot of substitutions early in the game. Oats’ team responded, though, and even helped its coach set a new program record for wins against AP Top 25 opponents by a head coach.
Kentucky head coach Mark Pope, in his first season replacing John Calipari at the helm of the Wildcats’ program, said postgame he felt that Alabama is a quality defensive team. Pope’s squad fell to 18-9 (7-7 SEC) in defeat, unable to rally thanks in part to the defensive intensity of Alabama.
Alabama sweeping Kentucky in the regular season is not a common occurrence. Saturday marked just the fourth time that it has happened. In the early stages of the contest, it did not seem like that would come to pass.
Defense has been a sticking point for Oats and his staff recently. The Crimson Tide head coach has been wanting, plainly, to see more of it. Last season’s team did not shine in that department and still put together a good enough tournament run to make the Final Four.
This season’s team faces a major series of tests before getting to March, let alone the Final Four, and it wil need to use defense to its advantage if it is to make landfall in San Antonio.
