Alabama plays South Carolina tonight after thrashing Oklahoma in its SEC Conference season opener. The Gamecocks fared worse after being smothered by Mississippi State eighty-five to fifty last Saturday. The Tide beat the Sooners one hundred and seven to seventy-nine. Head coach Nate Oats says doing well before a hometown crowd is different compared to playing on the road…
Now, we got to go on the road, you know, where we've been a little inconsistent. You know, we lost at Purdue and didn't play well at North Dakota. We had a big road one at North Carolina. But, you know, we got to go on the road to South Carolina, who's going to be really amped up and ready to go, I'm sure, after their game,” he said.
The Gamecocks have gone 8-1 in home games. South Carolina is 1-1 in one-possession games. The Crimson Tide are 1-0 in conference games. Alabama scores 91.1 points while outscoring opponents by 13.7 points per game. South Carolina scores 73.8 points per game, 3.6 fewer points than the 77.4 Alabama gives up. Alabama has shot at a 47.4% rate from the field this season, 5.1 percentage points above the 42.3% shooting opponents of South Carolina have averaged. Despite South Carolina’s poor showing against Mississippi State, Tide coach Nate Oats says he’s focusing on where Alabama can improve…
“We're capable of being a great defensive team. We got to be better when the scores our way, and we got to be more consistent in it,” Oats said. “We're not as good a shooting team as we'd hoped, but some of that's injuries, obviously, right? So was our most efficient shooter. He's out for the year.”
After South Carolina, Alabama continues its road trip with a game against the Texas A & M Aggies on Saturday. The Tide turns to Tuscaloosa to face Ole Miss next week.
