Nate Oats saw Kentucky’s defenders as easy targets — or, in his words, “seals.”
On Saturday, No. 4 Alabama basketball found a way to keep pace with No. 8 Kentucky by exploiting a weakness in the Wildcats’ defense. Often, this came from inbounds plays, where Alabama would pass the ball to either Mo Dioubate or Grant Nelson, using their athleticism to outmaneuver Kentucky’s forwards on the drive to the basket.
Nelson scored 25 points, Dioubate added 8, and Kentucky racked up numerous fouls. Alabama ultimately left Lexington with a 102-97 victory.
Dioubate and Nelson were pivotal in breaking down Kentucky’s defense, but Oats emphasized that Alabama’s ability to exploit mismatches was a collective effort. Oats credits Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla for the strategy, particularly the analogy of a pack of killer whales hunting seals.
“The out-of-bounds play we kept scoring on, kind of going at some of their seals, if you will,” Oats said after the game. “It was just invented on the fly, and we now need to give it a name. But we just kinda kept giving it to our four-man. It kinda helped that Grant was going and Dioubate was going downhill. Give it to them on the elbow, whichever elbow matches their strong hand, put the seal on the edge and kind of going at him.”
“We were able to generate some fouls using Dioubate’s skill and kind of going downhill on that. I thought we did a good job recognizing mismatches — seals, if you will — kind of going at them. They’re trying to get their matchups, and we’re just moving the guys around to where we need to get.”
Oats first adopted Mazzulla’s killer whale mentality during his recent visits to Boston. While the approach helped Alabama secure a top-10 victory on Saturday, its significance extends beyond the basketball court. Mazzulla, speaking about his team’s philosophy, described killer whales as the “epitome of the apex predator” yet emphasized their teamwork.
“I think that they are the epitome of the apex predator, right? But, at the same time, they have the humility to make sure they hunt in packs,” Mazzulla said last fall, according to NBC Sports Boston. “So that kind of goes to, when you’re trying to build a team, it’s like, ‘I know I’m the best, but I need people around me in order to be even better.'”
“So when you see nature live that out — I know I could go kill that seal on my own, but I need the pod to come with me so we could do it tactically. And the tactical approach towards taking down their adversaries is a rather detailed one…”
“So what are you willing to do to go after success and making sure you don’t skip steps in that process? The animal kingdom is about as natural as you can get it when it comes to hierarchy and when it comes to decisions you make, either bringing you closer to keeping your life or decisions bringing you closer to dying. And you’ve got to make the right decisions more times than not.”
Alabama’s victory over Kentucky kept the Tide near the top of the SEC standings. With a record of 15-3 and 4-1 in conference play, Alabama stayed just one game behind the conference leader, recovering from a disappointing home loss to No. 21 Ole Miss earlier in the week. To remain competitive for the SEC title, Oats believes the team must continue to operate as a unified pack, targeting the remaining SEC “seals.”
“I think that loss against Ole Miss got us focused,” Oats said. “This was a completely different team than the one that played Ole Miss. If we learned the lessons that we needed to in that loss Tuesday and we don’t forget them for the remainder of the year, it might be the best thing to happen to us.”
“We’ve just got to make sure this is not a one-game deal. We’ve got to continue to do the things that we’ve done since Tuesday night.”
Alabama will look to carry its momentum into Tuesday’s matchup against Vanderbilt at 6 p.m. CT in Coleman Coliseum, with the game airing on SEC Network.
