"Good defensive team for large parts of the night": Nate Oats couldn't hold back praises for Alabama after 109-96 win over Charleston

Nate Oats was delighted with his No. 4 seed Alabama (22-11) who opened the 2024 NCAA Tournament with a 109-96 blowout win over No. 13 seed Charleston (27-8) in Spokane, Washington.

The Tide set a program record for points scored in the NCAA Tournament in a brilliant offensive display. But, coach Oats was delighted with how the defense stepped up in the crunch situation.

"I think we showed tonight when we're locked in, we can be a good defensive team because we were a good defensive team for large parts of the night," Oats said in his press conference after the game.

However, Oats also insisted that Alabama tends to get affected by the scoreboard and takes its foot off the gas.

“We’ve had this issue with this team all year. I think they play the scoreboard too much.,"Oats said. "We built a 31-point lead and I would have to go look and see what the last seven, eight minutes of that game."

"We just got up 31 and we quit guarding, which is a little frustrating, but it’s not the time of the year to really kind of jump these guys right after you just scored 109 points in an NCAA tournament gam," he added.

Nonetheless, the Tide are now among the 32 teams in the hunt for the NCAA championship. Alabama is one of the three Southeastern teams to qualify for the next round, along with No. 2 seed Tennessee and No. 9 seed Texas A&M.

Nate Oats will hope his team can make a deep run in the postseason, following a relatively underwhelming regular season campaign, which saw Alabama finish with a 21-10 overall record (13-5 in the conference). The Tide also lost to Florida 102-88 in the first round of the SEC Tournament.

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Who will Nate Oats' Alabama face in the second round of NCAA Tournament?

NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament - Practice Day - Spokane

Nate Oats' Alabama will face No. 12 seed Grand Canyon (30-4) in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:10 p.m. at Spokane Arena.

Grand Canyon beat No. 5 seed Saint Mary's 75-66 in the first round of the postseason.