Rylan Griffen’s best game of the season arguably followed his worst. The sophomore guard contributed to Alabama’s blowout loss on Jan. 20 at Tennessee with six turnovers and poor decisions, leading Oats to sit Griffen down ahead of UA’s following against Auburn and, as Oats would later describe “talk through some stuff.”

Griffen, for the second time this season and first instance in conference play, would come off the bench. Oats demanded more from a player he’d identified as the Tide’s best defender previously. Oats then called Ron Griffen, Rylan’s father, to relay the message. It wasn’t a true demotion as Oats believed the second unit could spark Griffen. Griffen then, according to Oats, spoke with former Tide guard and sixth-man Jahvon Quinerly (now at Memphis) for advice.

The shake-up led to 19 points in Alabama’s narrow rivalry win, its first against a ranked opponent (No. 8 Auburn) this season. Griffen swished five 3-pointers, including a barrage in the first half while the Tide built a double-digit lead. Griffen also totaled seven rebounds (a season-high) as Oats saw his message resonate.

While Alabama (13-6, 5-1) still sorting its starting lineup, — Oats didn’t commit to any changes ahead of UA’s home matchup against LSU (11-8, 3-3) on Saturday night (7 p.m. on ESPN) — clear conversations about player’s roles could lead to more turnarounds.

“We probably need more 1-on-1s spelling out exactly what they need and challenging them,” Oats said Friday when asked about if Griffen’s situation can be replicated. ” …. That’s part of coaching. You gotta have players (who) are willing to take some constructive criticism and take it to heart and change. We need to get that a few more players playing really well now.”

Per KenPom, Alabama ranks 276th nationally in minutes continuity and 154th in bench minutes. The former isn’t surprising considering the talent and depth UA had to replace from last year’s Sweet 16 team. The latter metric, however, shows how Oats isn’t necessarily digging deeper and deeper into the bench after each lackadaisical performance. Instead, he’s trying to find the right combinations.

Earlier in the fall, Oats challenged his players defensively. Players like transfer Grant Nelson and freshmen Jarin Stevenson and Sam Walters are learning the SEC on a curve and, at least against the Tigers, the energy and effort maintained through most of the 40 minutes. Oats credited Stevenson’s execution down the stretch, specifically.

“In years in the past when we’ve won the SEC, we’ve had some dominating wins from start to finish. We haven’t had any of those yet,” Oats said. “I’m not saying we will be able to do that against LSU. They’re a really good team. But at some point here … we need to have a dominating win. Where the first four minutes were up everybody knows who the better team is, everybody knows who’s playing harder that night.”

LSU, which has lost three of its last four, will enter Coleman Coliseum failing to track 70 points in two conference losses against Texas A&M and against Georgia.

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].