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Nate Oats explains flurry of early substitutions vs. Kentucky
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Nate Oats has a deep squad at Alabama, but even the head coach knows he went to his bench a bit faster than usual against Kentucky.
By the time 6 minutes had elapsed on Saturday, Oats had already utilized 9 substitutions in the game. In that time span, the Wildcats had raced out to a 20-9 lead in Tuscaloosa with turnovers and other issues plaguing the Crimson Tide.
Afterward, Oats said his decision to use early substitutions boiled down to wanting to send a message that there will be “zero tolerance” for any lack of effort and players not being totally locked into the scouting report.
“That’s the way it’s going to be moving forward,” Oats said in regard to making quick changes to the lineup.
One player who remained locked in the entire way for Alabama was Mark Sears. He led the Crimson Tide in just about every category, including a game-high 30 points while playing 35 minutes of the game.
As for the rest of the Crimson Tide, it will be interesting to see how Nate Oats’s message and substitution methods are received moving forward. But Alabama is out of time to try and get guys locked in with a streak of big-time opponents to wrestle with over the final 4 games in the regular season.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
