Nate Oats praises Missouri for handling fan’s Darius Miles remark
Alabama men’s basketball had an emotional win at Vanderbilt shortly after the arrest of player Darius Miles. Throughout the game, head coach Nate Oats confirmed, Commodores fans were respectful in cheering for an upset over the No. 4 team in the country. In the Crimson Tide’s most recent road game though, an unfortunate chant was made by a spectator.
Oats confirmed that a Missouri fan in the school’s students’ section made a comment regarding Miles and the murder of Jamea Jonae Harris. The fan was removed and Oats appreciated how the program and Mizzou Arena crew handled the situation.
“Yeah, there was,” Oats said. “But I don’t need to address it. They got him out of there. So for the most part look, coach (Dennis) Gates is great. The administration here is great. Sometimes college students don’t understand the severity of things. For the most part, it was fine.”
From the broadcast on SEC Network, there didn’t appear to be any response by Alabama players. It was an energized environment as the Tigers tried to keep the game close toward the end of the first half. Freshman Brandon Miller stared into the distance toward the crowd after silencing them with a few 3-pointers.
As part of the team’s healing process, Oats addressed the team on Friday regarding potential “idiots” making light of the situation on social media and potential in-person remarks. Noah Clowney led a pregame prayer for all affected by the incident.
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Rewinding No. 4 Alabama’s 85-64 win at Missouri
“I’ve talked to our team about that,” Oats said. “Basically I told them this: if people want to be ignorant, and say things that are completely out of line — and in this case, I would think, this isn’t a case where somebody got into some trouble. These are serious matters. There’s a five-year-old, Kaine, that doesn’t have a mother anymore.
“This is not, to me, something that students should be joking about. If somebody does happen to say something, I just told our guys, you’ve got to be strong enough, tough enough. We’re here to play basketball. We know who we are, what we’ve done. We’re not — if they’re yelling things at us, they’re completely out of line. Ignore them. Move on.”
Alabama stayed perfect in the Southeastern Conference with the 85-64 win, improving to 17-2 overall.
Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].