Video of Oats' postgame press conference also available here.

Here's what Nate Oats said about Alabama's win from a confidence standpoint, and what area the Tide need to continue improving on as it prepares for Houston.

Imagine thinking there would be a game Alabama would score 100 and Mark Sears wouldn’t score at all. That is wild.

Overall, I thought Alabama played well, not great. They went through spurts of being able to hit everything and spurts of not hitting anything. The defense was also wildly inconsistent. Give Illinois credit, they hit some good and tough shots throughout the game. Will Riley had a solid game and he was someone Alabama wanted at one time. They ended up taking a guy named Labaron Philon. Maybe you heard of him.

Philon, Aden Holloway, and Aiden Sherrell all had fantastic games being the newcomers. The night belongs to Grant Nelson carrying Alabama to an early double digit lead and stacking on top of that in the first half. After half time, it was the incredibly talented backcourt who took over.

This was a great bounce back game against a very quality opponent. Now they need to hope to go 2-1 next week and they’re still on schedule in this brutal non conference stretch. Mark Sears has not played well all season, but he’s about to break out in a big way. When he does, this team is going to be fantastic.

Oats and the two players spoke to reporters after the Crimson Tide's 100-87 win over Illinois.

Oats

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Oats: "I thought we had a group in there to close the game well that played well on defense."

Oats pointed out that Labaron Philon almost had a triple-double.

Grant Nelson said Mark Sears subbed himself out tonight while he was watching other guards play well.

Philon: "Mark wasn't on the floor but his leadership was still there... I'm really proud of his leadership."

Philon on his strong start to the season: "Don't try to be a hero and just make the right plays every possession."

Mark Sears was the only player who didn’t score in Alabama’s blowout win. It was the first time he's been held scoreless since Nov. 27, 2020, in his freshman season at Ohio.

Coincidentally, that game was also against Illinois. Ohio lost 77-75.

Alabama's supporting cast stepped up massively tonight.