Growing up, Rick Pitino was an icon to Nate Oats. This goes all the way back to high school when he’d watch Pitino’s coaching tapes when shaping his career track as a teenager in Wisconsin.
That context only adds to the magic of the last few days for Oats. Not only did he beat the Hall of Fame coach Saturday in the NCAA tournament, the Pitino advice went from VHS to a phone line by Monday.
Before beating Maryland 96-77 to advance to the Sweet 16, Oats said he reached out and spoke to Pitino on Monday afternoon.
“I wanted to get his thoughts on us,” Oats said late Monday night. “He told me his thoughts on us. He told me the same thing -- he said every Louisville/Kentucky team he had, the hardest game was the first one. He referenced the San Jose State game when they were a 36-point favorite and it was a one-point game at the half.”
Pitino’s Iona team certainly was a tougher out than Maryland as the No. 15 seed led Alabama briefly in the second half before falling 68-55. His 1996 Kentucky team was the No. 1 seed who led 16-seeded San Jose State 47-41 at halftime before pulling away for a 110-72 win. They won the next three games by at least 20 points to reach the Final Four.
“And he just told his guys they’ve got enough talent that it’s going to -- calm, just focus on defense” Oats said. “That’s what I’ve been telling our guys. But I told them, Coach Pitino said the same thing. He’s a hall of fame coach, won a couple of national championships, I think he knows what he’s doing.”
Oats saw a more relaxed Crimson Tide team on the floor Monday as the Tide led Maryland by as many as 23 in the second half.
Bruner on the bench
Alabama switched up the starting lineup for the first time in a while Monday when Jordan Bruner went to the bench and Juwan Gary got the nod. Oats explained the move after the game.
The transfer from Yale is “not as athletic as he was before the knee surgeries,” Oats said, referring to the injury trouble that started in January. That was a concern on the defensive end with Maryland’s Donta Scott so Oats went with the freshman who’s traditionally been a spark plug off the bench.
“At this point you do what you’ve gotta do to win the game,” Oats said. “Bruner’s a team guy. He’s all about what it takes for the team to win. Obviously he’d like to play more minutes because he’s a really good player. But we built this thing on getting stops and guarding. And we didn’t think the matchup was good and he got beat on the one blow-by there.”
The plan was to use Bruner more when former Alabama forward Galin Smith was in the game for the Terps but he played just four minutes in his collegiate debut. That limited Bruner to his shortest appearance of the season, playing just two minutes and not recording any stats.
Gary played a season-high 25 minutes in only his second start. He scored six points and grabbed seven boards for an Alabama team that out-rebounded Maryland, 40-19.
Primo strong in return
Alabama freshman Josh Primo was an on-going storyline since spraining his MCL on March 12 in the SEC tournament. His rehab culminated Monday night with a return to the floor in a successful NCAA tournament debut.
The rookie played 23 minutes and scored 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers against Maryland. He drilled the first of his two deep balls on his first offensive possession to kickstart the Alabama run after falling behind 18-12.
“I thought he was huge,” Oats said. “We needed big guards. They have big guards that they post a lot. He’s 6-6, 200 pounds, athletic, with length. I thought his minutes were huge for us. He’s 2-of-4 from 3. He’s been working too. He hasn’t been able to go live in practice but he’s been shooting a lot. He’s a confident kid.”
A second-half basket that put Alabama up 80-58 was the real memory Oats took from the win over Maryland.
“That tip dunk was what got me going, though, showed his athleticism a little bit,” Oats said. “I think that maybe will give him a little bit of confidence he was up on the rim on that. They went to the zone and he crashed, got the boards. We’ve got really good kids and he’s as good a kid as it comes. I was happy to see him play well his first game back after his injury.”
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
"oat" - Google News
March 23, 2021 at 08:12PM
https://ift.tt/3rpc12V
How call with Rick Pitino helped Nate Oats, Alabama before blowing out Terps - AL.com
"oat" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2VUZxDm
https://ift.tt/3aVzfVV
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "How call with Rick Pitino helped Nate Oats, Alabama before blowing out Terps - AL.com"
Post a Comment