Why Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats was impressed by Clemson Tigers

The Clemson Tigers’ opponent in this year’s ACC/SEC Challenge was a litmus test for coach Brad Brownell’s squad as it seeks to cement itself as a contender and compete against some of college basketball’s best teams.

One of those teams is the 12th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, who defeated the Tigers, 90-84, on Wednesday night at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama (6-2) led by as many as 19 points at the midway point of the first half, but Clemson (7-2) roared back to make a game of it, taking the lead with just under 10 minutes to play after Dillon Hunter made a jumper for a 62-61 Tigers advantage.

Clemson led, 66-64, until Alabama’s London Jemison and Houston Mallette connected on back-to-back 3-pointers. Even then, the Tigers didn’t roll over and reclaimed the lead at 82-81 on a layup from RJ Godfrey with 2:41 to play before Alabama closed on a 9-1 run.

Godfrey finished the night with 19 points to lead the Tigers, who got 13 points from Hunter, 12 from freshman Zac Foster, and 11 apiece from transfers Nick Davidson and Carter Welling.

The Tigers shot 41 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Crimson Tide, 43-39.

All in all, it was a good showing against an Alabama team that has been to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in four of the past five years and is coming off back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight — one of which came at Clemson’s expense, with an 89-82 victory over the Tigers in the West Region final in Los Angeles in March 2024.

Alabama coach Nate Oats was impressed by the Tigers’ performance Wednesday.

“Clemson’s good,” Oats told reporters after the game. “They’re going to win a lot of games this year. They’re tough. Any team coached by Brad is not going to quit. We knew that and tried to tell our guys that at the half, and then the first two possessions of the second half, we give up transition layups and it was a dogfight from there.”

“Big win against a really good team,” Oats said of Clemson. “They gave us everything we could handle. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit.”

Clemson will look to build on its showing against Alabama when it faces the 10th-ranked BYU Cougars (7-1) at Madison Square Garden in New York for the annual Jimmy V Classic next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Tipoff for Clemson-BYU is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ESPN.