NASHVILLE — Alabama men’s basketball coach Nate Oats has one thing to ask of Crimson Tide fans: Make the short drive to Music City and pack Bridgestone Arena for Sunday’s Southeastern Conference championship game.
Oats made his request after freshman Brandon Miller scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to help fourth-ranked, top-seeded Alabama advance by beating 25th-ranked, fourth-seeded Missouri 72-61 in Saturday’s first semifinal.
Alabama (28-5) will play in its 15th tournament title game, and the opponent will be 18th-ranked, second-seeded Texas A&M, which ended sixth-seeded Vanderbilt’s run with a win in the second semifinal. The Tide, who clinched the league’s regular-season title with a game to spare, are looking for the eighth SEC tourney title in program history.
In calling people to come to Nashville, Oats recalled how coronavirus pandemic restrictions limited the number of fans at the same venue in 2021, when Alabama swept the SEC championships.
“These are not easy to make it to. We’ve had two tough games to get there. We’ll have a really tough game whoever we end up playing tomorrow,” Oats said in his postgame news conference. “If people ask me who do I want to play, I don’t think that’s a good question because, whoever I want to, doesn’t matter.”