Nate Oats explains what Alabama needs to do better to have ‘pretty accurate plan’ to slay North Carolina

For most of this season, Nate Oats has implored Alabama to play better defense. But as the Tide arrives Monday in Los Angeles to meet North Carolina in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, it’s the other side of the court in need of attention: the offense.

“We’re playing our best defense of the year at the right time, and I think if we can get our offense back to being the No. 1 offense in the country, we’ve got a pretty good shot to beat these guys,” Oats said Monday during a pre-recorded segment for his “Hey Coach” radio show.

Alabama’s early- and mid-season offensive blitz pushed the Tide to the top of KenPom.com’s offensive efficiency rankings. But its offense noticeably slipped during a stretch of three losses over the final four regular season games — with injuries contributing — and during a one-and-done trip to the SEC tournament earlier this month. Alabama scored 109 points in the first round of the NCAA tournament against Charleston, but hardly looked like an offensive juggernaut during a second-round Sunday slugfest with Grand Canyon.

“We really haven’t played a very good offensive game — we looked good against Charleston, decent, but kind of let our foot off the gas — and we didn’t play well at all against Grand Canyon on offense,” Oats said of the 72-61 win. Alabama shot 36.9%, its third-lowest rate of the season.

After some winter weather-related delays getting out of Spokane, Washington on Monday, the Tide traveled directly to Los Angeles as it prepares to play Thursday night in Crypto.com Arena against the No. 1 seed Tar Heels.

“We’ll do our best over these next four days to get the guys’ legs back under them,” Oats said. “We’re not gonna practice [Tuesday]. We’re gonna try to get their confidence back with their shooting. We’re trying to get the No. 1 offense in the country back while maintaining — I saw somewhere we had the 38th-best defense in the last week. If we didn’t take our foot off the gas against Charleston like we did when we got up 31, I think it would be closer to top 20.

“So if you could combine a top-20 defense and the No. 1 offense, you’ve got a chance to make a Final Four run.”

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