For a team that likes a fast pace, the sound of a whistle is not exactly conducive to Alabama’s style.
The 81-66 loss in Arkansas spoke to this.
Alabama (18-6, 13-2 SEC) was asked for 32 offenses – the most in more than three years – on a night frustration. Senior John Petty was sent off with 1:01 left after being asked for his second technical foul with a call.
Arkansas finishes with 43 attempts to throw Alabama’s eight.
Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats answered some questions about the impact of the offenses on Alabama’s loss in the aftermath. He said Alabama players were sometimes too concerned about the service work.
“Well, we have no control over the service,” Oats said. ‘So if you’re going to worry about things, you have no control and you’re not very good at the things you have control over, and we were not very good at things tonight. We need to stop worrying about the service work. They are going to present the match as they are going to present it, and we need to worry about what we can control, and we need to do better. ”
Oats point to the Tide’s sub-three-point shooting as a factor, as the visitors are 4-for-16 from long range after halftime.
However, the difference in dirty shots was unusually large.
What did Oats think of it?
“I’m not trying to give money back to anyone, but I’m not going to talk about it too much,” Oats said. He refers to the potential fines he could receive from the SEC for criticizing officials. “But part of it is, I mean, we polluted some people. We need to move our feet and get in position. We must try not to make mistakes on three-point shooters.
‘We shot a lot more 3s than them, but I thought a lot of our 3s came off drives and kicks, and I thought we should work better on some slides to try to contaminate on our slides like they were I suppose , I think. ‘
Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said the 27-3 lead his team made was foul shots was clearly big in the game.
“We felt we would attack the edge,” Mussleman said. “We did not want to settle. We did not want to score tries. We did not want quick shots. I thought we understood the lap clock mostly well. To my knowledge, we may have taken two shots that I was not happy with. We also prepared a few days. Just proud of the performance on both sides of the ball. ”
The entrees Herbert Jones and Jaden Shackelford disappeared while Petty was sent to the showers early with the technical story. Oats was asked about what happened to Petty’s final T.
“They had him in a trap. John did not think he had polluted him. I don’t either, “said Oats. ‘I have to watch the replay, I did not see for sure. I think when the ref called the offense on him, he was a little frustrated. I think he felt like he bumped into something that hadn’t been called before. It’s a tough game. There is a lot of contact and we were asked for a lot of transgressions and he said something he should not have said to the refs. I do not know what it was, but of course he should not have said it. ”
Before being asked for 32 offenses on Wednesday, the highest season was 27 in the December victory over Ole Miss. Alabama has been asked for more than 20 offenses in just seven of the previous 23 games this season.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or to Facebook.