IN PICS: Nate Oats and team draw emotional reactions as they spend time with “Children’s of Alabama”

Nate Oats and the Alabama men's basketball team paid a visit to Children’s of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham on Friday. The March Madness contenders connected with the young patients and their families.

Ahead of their charity exhibition game against Wake Forest on Oct. 18 at Boutwell Memorial Auditorium, the team visited Children’s of Alabama. They interacted with patients, joined them for crafts and games, took pictures, signed autographs, and even played some hoops.

The Crimson Tide shared photos from the special day on Instagram, which left their fans impressed and inspired.

Fans commented on Instagram (@alabamambb/IG)

"Awesome work guys. Great things coming to this team!" one fan wrote in the comments.

"This is a great team made up of even better people!" another added.

"Great 👍🏾 to see ❤️🏀 Great 👍🏾 cause," a fan said.

"Love this so much!!! Thank you guys!!! ❤️🐘🏀," another commented.

"Well done!" one more chimed in.

"Jarin look so nice bro," a fan added, referring to sophomore forward Jarin Stevenson's picture playing video games with a patient.

Several patients were allowed to attend the exhibition game at the "Bama in Boutwell" event. The hospital is the official charity partner of Bama in Boutwell, and a donation will be made as part of the event.

"We found a small, intimate environment where it can feel special to everybody that's going," Nate Oats said of Boutwell. "I think it's great to do the exhibition and be able to contribute to Children's both financially and just with some service here, hanging out with the kids."

Nate Oats analyzes team play in first exhibition match

Alabama was back on the court last week for the first time since their defeat in the Final Four against UConn in April.

Nate Oats' men faced Wake Forest in their first exhibition match ahead of the new season, where they displayed promising play with more defensive intensity. The Crimson Tide dominated the game, securing a 98-77 win.

"It was good to get this group out together for the first time," Oats said. "We didn’t have four of our guys, but I thought we had enough of them to kind of see how we want to play. I thought the defensive intensity was better than what we had seen at points last year."

No. 2 ranked Alabama will play its second exhibition game against Memphis on Oct. 28 before kicking off its season on Nov. 4 in a home game against UNC Asheville.