Alabama remains the projected No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA tournament, but as the Tide enters March, coach Nate Oats feels his team could play better.

“Honestly, we haven’t played great the last two games,” Oats said during his “Hey Coach” radio show Monday evening.

Alabama beat South Carolina in overtime last Wednesday in Columbia before coming from behind Saturday and then holding off Arkansas, 86-83. The Tide allowed 20 points in the final three-and-a-half minutes to the Razorbacks after growing a 12-point lead.

“Offensively we picked it up in the second half against Arkansas. We didn’t close that game well. Offensively we were bad in the first half. We were really good defensively for about 36 minutes — the last four minutes of the game, we weren’t great against Arkansas. Obviously, down in South Carolina wasn’t one of our better games.

“So I feel like we’re due for a good game. I feel like we’ve got some guys that have played poorly, personally, for the last two and are kind of hungry to play well. I think we saw that in practice today. I think some guys are ready to go. Kind of combine the fact that they haven’t played great in a couple straight games and we’ve got Auburn coming, which is obviously a rivalry game — I like the energy. I think we’ll have a good practice tomorrow and be ready to go on Wednesday.”

Alabama hosts Auburn at 6 p.m. CT on Wednesday in Coleman Coliseum in the Tide’s final home game of the season. Alabama clinched a share of the SEC regular-season title with its win Saturday over Arkansas combined with Texas A&M’s loss to Mississippi State, which was overshadowed by national scrutiny surrounding the program’s handling of court testimony revealing Brandon Miller’s contact with Darius Miles the night of Jamea Harris’ murder Jan. 15.

Said Oats of Monday’s practice: “I think [the energy] is good. I think our guys are focused. They realize it’s a rivalry game.”

Alabama, ranked No. 2 in this week’s Associated Press poll, would clinch the SEC title outright if Texas A&M loses to Ole Miss on Tuesday night, or if the Tide beats Auburn on Wednesday night. If neither happens, Alabama would travel to Texas A&M on Saturday with the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament on the line.

Alabama was ranked No. 3 earlier this month when it pulled away late to beat the Tigers, 77-69, in Neville Arena. Oats made headlines after the game when he referred to the raucous environment as Auburn’s “Super Bowl” on the same weekend the NFL played its championship game.

“One, Auburn is a good team, OK? It was not an easy win at all,” Oats said Monday on his radio show. “Two, we’ve got to figure out a better way to guard Wendell Green because he torched us, OK? Jaylin Williams did a good job against us too. He played well.”

Green scored 24 points on on 4-of-9 three point shooting, while Williams added 16 on 3-of-6 shooting from deep.

“We’ve got to do a better job offensively against them,” Oats said. “We’ve got to have a better plan. I didn’t feel like we as a coaching staff had a good enough plan to go against what they were going to do.

“Now, they mix up what they do. They change up their ball screen coverages some. Sometimes they switch. Sometimes they don’t. They got a lot of more in-game adjustments — or game-to-game adjustments, I should say, maybe. We do some, but I think we’ve got, kind of a really strong base and we’re going to be good at this and this is what we do. They change stuff up.

“So when you change stuff up game-to-game, sometimes you’re not as good at all of it individually, but it makes it harder to game plan for it, as well. So I think we’ve got to do a better job figuring out what they’re doing, and they also change stuff game-to-game.

“It’s gonna be a little bit more of a chess match, because I think we’ve got a pretty talented group and they’ve got some really talented guys. KD Johnson is playing a lot better now than he was then. He’s shooting the ball way, way better in these last five games. So we’re going to have to pay attention to him a little bit more. A lot more, actually.”

Auburn enters the game having lost seven of its last 10 games. They are the sixth-to-last team inside ESPN’s projected NCAA tournament field.

“They’re hungry for a win, too,” Oats said. “They’re fighting for NCAA tournament seeding, as we are. We’re trying to get an SEC championship outright, and if we beat them, we clinch it outright, and it would be great to do that in front of our home crowd.”

Brandon Miller scored 65 points in Alabama’s two games last week and was joined by Jahvon Quinerly in leading Alabama’s second-half offensive surge against the Razorbacks.

“We need JQ playing his best basketball for us,” Oats said. “I think he had all of his confidence back on Saturday. We need it. It gives us another dimension. … As long as Quinerly’s defense is good — and it was pretty good on Saturday — if his offense keeps going like this, his minutes are going to increase.”

Miller and Quinerly hit Alabama’s final two three pointers Saturday after Alabama started 1-of-20. Over the past two games, Tide guard Mark Sears has shot 1-of-8 from deep, Nimari Burnett has shot 0-for-7, Noah Clowney 0-for-4 and Rylan Griffen 0-for-2.

“I didn’t think we took too many bad ones,” Oats said. “Sears probably rushed a couple in the second half, to be honest with you. … We’ve got to get Sears going a little earlier, I think. But I didn’t think our shot selection was terrible. We just missed some open shots. We’ve got to make open shots. We’ve got to get shooters to step up and make open shots.”

Oats on Monday night also recalled beating Auburn in Coleman Coliseum his first season as coach when the Tigers were ranked No. 4 during the 2019-20 season and the Tide was unranked.

“Bruce [Pearl] told me in Year 2, and he’s right, it’s good for basketball in the state of Alabama that both teams are really good,” he said. “This game has always been a big rivalry game inside the state of Alabama. It’s now a big game across the country. When Auburn plays Alabama, it’s got national meaning now. Both teams are typically ranked in the top-25 — I’m not sure what the rankings are today, to be honest with you.”

Auburn is not ranked again this week.

“But we’re competing for SEC championships,” Oats continued. “It has meaning outside of the Alabama-Auburn rivalry, like it had had. It’s always had meaning within the state of Alabama. Now it’s got national meaning, and it’s a big deal. And that’s the case here again. It’s a big deal. We’re ranked No. 2. They’re a really good team. They’re fighting for NCAA tournament seeding. People across the country watch the Alabama-Auburn game now every time it’s played, and that’s a big deal.”

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.