Opening Statement…
“That was a good start to the tournament. We obviously didn't play very well last time we were out at A&M, so we need to bounce back. We bounced back off our losses pretty well all year. The margin of victory after a loss is 20 plus so we did that again today. The question is can we continue to play like this for the next two days, I thought our guys were very focused. They were really into the defensive end which is what we needed to be. We made a change in the lineup obviously took our sixth man of the year in the SEC and put him in the starting lineup. I just thought we were struggling offensively to start games, we had to get to the end of the four-minute media timeout and have two points or three points. Today we started 13-6. So it made sense. I thought Jaden Bradley played well in his minutes too, so this wasn't necessarily a demotion for Jaden. He came to me last night and told me he thought I should start Jahvon. It's the kind of group we've got. Guys are willing to do whatever they need to do to help the team be better. Then me, JQ and Jaden Bradley sat down and had a discussion. I think it's better when Clowney is at the five, Brandon's at the four – there's more shooting on the floor, when Jaden is in that way you can play to his strengths and get the ball downhill a little bit when there's a little bit more shooting with a stretch five in there. That's why we decided to do that, it wasn't that we were displeased with Jaden. I just thought it made sense and it worked well today, so I thought I thought our guys did a good job opening the game. I thought we did a good job closing the half.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Oats opened his postgame press conference with a four-minute opening statement and while I would transcribe the entire answer, this part was the crux of Alabamab’s victory on Friday. The move to insert Jahvon Quinerly into the starting lineup showed why Alabama is getting set to pay Oats until the 2028-29 season. While it seemed like a simple move to just insert a guy who was averaging more than 17 points per game over his last three appearances, it’s unclear if the rest of the offense would respond with a new starter on the floor. Quinerly insured that wasn’t going to happen by letting the offense come to him as he finished with 10 points, two rebounds and four assists. Friday’s offensive consistency was needed after struggling against Texas A&M and can be the performance Alabama needs to get a run started.
On Noah Gurley and Charles Bediako’s performance…
“I'm really happy for Noah. He's been practicing great. He's been leading even when he didn't play. I just couldn't be happier for him. I mean he steps up he goes 3 of 4 from 3. He's the guy that even though he hasn't played as much as he would have liked, and we have talked and he understands that he plays the four you know Clowny starts at the four and is probably gonna be a first-round pick. Brandon Miller gets bumped down to the four, he’s gonna be a lottery pick, you know, he's playing behind two really talented guys. But he's just stayed with it. He leads the team as a leader. Stayed in the gym, worked his tail off. I mean, I was in the training room two days ago, he came in, all out sweat probably three, four hours after he was drenched. He said ‘I just got done with shooting workout.’ He’s a kid that never dropped his head because he wouldn't play and never pouted He's got he's a high-character kid. All our kids are pretty high-character kids, but he's at the top and I'm really happy for him. For Charles, it's great that he had a good game on his birthday. I kind of got on him there in the first four minutes the second half, I thought he kind of let Tolu Smith get going. I thought he did a great job in the first half, but when he came back and he had some blocks to kind of seal the game. They cut it to 14 I think if I remember right and then we kind of inserted some of those starters back in Charles had some blocks, we made a couple of threes to open it back up to 20. The guys all gave Charles love in the locker room and we gave him the hard hat because it's his birthday. So Happy Birthday to Chuck.”
Benny’s Breakdown: “March means clutch performances from unlikely players. While Alabama may not have needed Noah Gurley or Charles Bediako’s production as much as it will need it next week, it's crucial for the Crimson Tide to get minutes from bench players. Alabama used 11 different players in its win against Mississippi State, 10 of which found a way onto the scoresheet. Gurley and Bediako finished with 11 points apiece and were two of the four players to finish the game in double digits. Both players were very efficient from the floor, taking high-quality shots that helped Alabama shoot 40% from the field.
On limiting turnovers, the importance of breaking the negative trends of late…
“Oh, it's big. We've been talking about getting better starts. I set in the hotel room with our starting group before the A&M game, talked about what we need to do. That's why I was so moved, pleased with Jaden Bradley. He came to me and said, Coach, I think Jahvon Quinerly should start. I've talked to him about different lineups that maybe fit him a little better. So just such an unselfish group. They really want to do what's best for the team all the time. I think Jahvon has been playing really well. Gives us a little bit more shooting when teams can't sag quite as much. It wasn't just Jahvon inserted for Jaden. It was more the whole team. We got to get stops, run off our stops. Only having seven turnovers is big because even when you don't shoot it particularly well, we didn't shoot it bad, 35% is not bad, but that was bolstered by Gurley's three of four, Dom Welch's one of one. The rest of the team that typically shot it well for us all year, you take those guys out, didn't shoot it great. Didn't turn it over, rebounded it enough. A decent offensive game against a good defensive team.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Alabama took the week to focus on its Achilles heels — poor shooting to start games and turnovers. On Friday, the Crimson Tide fixed both issues shooting 40% from the field and 35% from deep. While 72 points doesn’t look like a massive offensive day, scoring 70 points or more is rare against Mississippi State. The Bulldogs have allowed 70 points or more just seven times this season and Alabama is one of two teams to do that twice. With the team’s ability to hold onto the ball, the Crimson Tide averaged 1.180 points per possession. It was a strong day for Alabama as it looks to have a similar performance against Missouri tomorrow.
On the value in getting starters some rest late in the game, an update on Dom Welch…
“We've played these tournaments before where we get to play three straight games. Mississippi State had to go to overtime yesterday, so they had to play their starters extra minutes. I was hoping after we pull our starters after the first four minutes of the second half that we would only have to play them very limited. We were able to do that. I think we just had to put them in there when it got cut to 14, move it back up to 20. I really wanted to see some bench guys play well. That Nimari Burnett has huge upside. I wanted to see him. He hit the 1-3. He drove it, got a layup. Thought he was pretty good in his minutes. Would have liked to see Rylan make a few shots, get his confidence back. But Noah Gurley was great. I think we can insert him in any of the next two games. He has the confidence to know he's playing well. Dom Welch, I thought he was good. Different kind of guys we can play in different situations. But Dom has got a tailbone bruise, so a big-time play taking that charge. Unfortunate that Nimari fouled the guy from behind, would have been a great charge. Embodies what we're about, a kid comes off the bench and gives his body up for the betterment of the team. Hopefully he can get some treatment and rehab and be ready to go. He's been playing well, practicing hard.”
Benny’s Breakdown: As I said earlier, Alabama’s depth is going to be crucial going forward so it's ideal for those players to get extra minutes early in March. Mississippi State sports the sixth-highest defensive efficiency ranking in the country according to KenPom. While Alabama was able to score 70 points or more, it was able to get there thanks to 25 points off the bench. If Alabama is able to continue its production off the bench, it should be able to go pretty far in this tournament which should set them up for a long run.
“That was a good start to the tournament. We obviously didn't play very well last time we were out at A&M, so we need to bounce back. We bounced back off our losses pretty well all year. The margin of victory after a loss is 20 plus so we did that again today. The question is can we continue to play like this for the next two days, I thought our guys were very focused. They were really into the defensive end which is what we needed to be. We made a change in the lineup obviously took our sixth man of the year in the SEC and put him in the starting lineup. I just thought we were struggling offensively to start games, we had to get to the end of the four-minute media timeout and have two points or three points. Today we started 13-6. So it made sense. I thought Jaden Bradley played well in his minutes too, so this wasn't necessarily a demotion for Jaden. He came to me last night and told me he thought I should start Jahvon. It's the kind of group we've got. Guys are willing to do whatever they need to do to help the team be better. Then me, JQ and Jaden Bradley sat down and had a discussion. I think it's better when Clowney is at the five, Brandon's at the four – there's more shooting on the floor, when Jaden is in that way you can play to his strengths and get the ball downhill a little bit when there's a little bit more shooting with a stretch five in there. That's why we decided to do that, it wasn't that we were displeased with Jaden. I just thought it made sense and it worked well today, so I thought I thought our guys did a good job opening the game. I thought we did a good job closing the half.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Oats opened his postgame press conference with a four-minute opening statement and while I would transcribe the entire answer, this part was the crux of Alabamab’s victory on Friday. The move to insert Jahvon Quinerly into the starting lineup showed why Alabama is getting set to pay Oats until the 2028-29 season. While it seemed like a simple move to just insert a guy who was averaging more than 17 points per game over his last three appearances, it’s unclear if the rest of the offense would respond with a new starter on the floor. Quinerly insured that wasn’t going to happen by letting the offense come to him as he finished with 10 points, two rebounds and four assists. Friday’s offensive consistency was needed after struggling against Texas A&M and can be the performance Alabama needs to get a run started.
On Noah Gurley and Charles Bediako’s performance…
“I'm really happy for Noah. He's been practicing great. He's been leading even when he didn't play. I just couldn't be happier for him. I mean he steps up he goes 3 of 4 from 3. He's the guy that even though he hasn't played as much as he would have liked, and we have talked and he understands that he plays the four you know Clowny starts at the four and is probably gonna be a first-round pick. Brandon Miller gets bumped down to the four, he’s gonna be a lottery pick, you know, he's playing behind two really talented guys. But he's just stayed with it. He leads the team as a leader. Stayed in the gym, worked his tail off. I mean, I was in the training room two days ago, he came in, all out sweat probably three, four hours after he was drenched. He said ‘I just got done with shooting workout.’ He’s a kid that never dropped his head because he wouldn't play and never pouted He's got he's a high-character kid. All our kids are pretty high-character kids, but he's at the top and I'm really happy for him. For Charles, it's great that he had a good game on his birthday. I kind of got on him there in the first four minutes the second half, I thought he kind of let Tolu Smith get going. I thought he did a great job in the first half, but when he came back and he had some blocks to kind of seal the game. They cut it to 14 I think if I remember right and then we kind of inserted some of those starters back in Charles had some blocks, we made a couple of threes to open it back up to 20. The guys all gave Charles love in the locker room and we gave him the hard hat because it's his birthday. So Happy Birthday to Chuck.”
Benny’s Breakdown: “March means clutch performances from unlikely players. While Alabama may not have needed Noah Gurley or Charles Bediako’s production as much as it will need it next week, it's crucial for the Crimson Tide to get minutes from bench players. Alabama used 11 different players in its win against Mississippi State, 10 of which found a way onto the scoresheet. Gurley and Bediako finished with 11 points apiece and were two of the four players to finish the game in double digits. Both players were very efficient from the floor, taking high-quality shots that helped Alabama shoot 40% from the field.
On limiting turnovers, the importance of breaking the negative trends of late…
“Oh, it's big. We've been talking about getting better starts. I set in the hotel room with our starting group before the A&M game, talked about what we need to do. That's why I was so moved, pleased with Jaden Bradley. He came to me and said, Coach, I think Jahvon Quinerly should start. I've talked to him about different lineups that maybe fit him a little better. So just such an unselfish group. They really want to do what's best for the team all the time. I think Jahvon has been playing really well. Gives us a little bit more shooting when teams can't sag quite as much. It wasn't just Jahvon inserted for Jaden. It was more the whole team. We got to get stops, run off our stops. Only having seven turnovers is big because even when you don't shoot it particularly well, we didn't shoot it bad, 35% is not bad, but that was bolstered by Gurley's three of four, Dom Welch's one of one. The rest of the team that typically shot it well for us all year, you take those guys out, didn't shoot it great. Didn't turn it over, rebounded it enough. A decent offensive game against a good defensive team.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Alabama took the week to focus on its Achilles heels — poor shooting to start games and turnovers. On Friday, the Crimson Tide fixed both issues shooting 40% from the field and 35% from deep. While 72 points doesn’t look like a massive offensive day, scoring 70 points or more is rare against Mississippi State. The Bulldogs have allowed 70 points or more just seven times this season and Alabama is one of two teams to do that twice. With the team’s ability to hold onto the ball, the Crimson Tide averaged 1.180 points per possession. It was a strong day for Alabama as it looks to have a similar performance against Missouri tomorrow.
On the value in getting starters some rest late in the game, an update on Dom Welch…
“We've played these tournaments before where we get to play three straight games. Mississippi State had to go to overtime yesterday, so they had to play their starters extra minutes. I was hoping after we pull our starters after the first four minutes of the second half that we would only have to play them very limited. We were able to do that. I think we just had to put them in there when it got cut to 14, move it back up to 20. I really wanted to see some bench guys play well. That Nimari Burnett has huge upside. I wanted to see him. He hit the 1-3. He drove it, got a layup. Thought he was pretty good in his minutes. Would have liked to see Rylan make a few shots, get his confidence back. But Noah Gurley was great. I think we can insert him in any of the next two games. He has the confidence to know he's playing well. Dom Welch, I thought he was good. Different kind of guys we can play in different situations. But Dom has got a tailbone bruise, so a big-time play taking that charge. Unfortunate that Nimari fouled the guy from behind, would have been a great charge. Embodies what we're about, a kid comes off the bench and gives his body up for the betterment of the team. Hopefully he can get some treatment and rehab and be ready to go. He's been playing well, practicing hard.”
Benny’s Breakdown: As I said earlier, Alabama’s depth is going to be crucial going forward so it's ideal for those players to get extra minutes early in March. Mississippi State sports the sixth-highest defensive efficiency ranking in the country according to KenPom. While Alabama was able to score 70 points or more, it was able to get there thanks to 25 points off the bench. If Alabama is able to continue its production off the bench, it should be able to go pretty far in this tournament which should set them up for a long run.
