March Madness is upon us, which means emotions are running high throughout the college basketball world.
Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats made that point perfectly clear during his in-game interview with TNT Sports’ Lauren Shehadi in the first half of Alabama’s second-round showdown with the Grand Canyon Antelopes.
While in-game interviews are generally used for coaches to give an update on the pulse of their team and focus on things they could do better, the fifth-year Bama head coach used his time to criticize the officiating, which he felt was one-sided in Grand Canyon’s favor.
The interview also took place immediately after Oats had been issued a technical foul, undoubtedly adding to his anger.
"There are two different refs but they got to have consistency within the crew."
— Alabama head coach Nate Oats is NOT happy with the officiating early on 😬😬 pic.twitter.com/NfNRARukPu
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 24, 2024
“The calls down here aren’t equal to the calls down there,” Oats said. “We get called for soft touch fouls twice, back to back. We get fouled, and there’s no call. It’s two different refs but they could have consistency within the group. Yeah, I’m not happy with it,” he continued.
To Oats’ point, Grand Canyon held an 18-10 edge over Alabama in free throws attempted in the first half, though the technical foul on Oats and a bench technical on Crimson Tide forward Nick Pringle added four free throws to the Antelopes’ total.
Oats is looking to get the Tide to the Sweet 16 for the third time in four seasons. We’ll see what kind of thoughts he has about the refs after the game, and the outcome may determine how strong those feelings are.
