Nate Oats Press Conference after 68-55 victory over Iona | NCAA Basketball | Alabama Basketball

Alabama basketball nearly stumbled but found its footing in time to survive its first test in the Big Dance. After watching a slew of opening-round upsets in the NCAA tournament, No. 2 seed Alabama was able to avoid one of its own as it got past No. 15 Iona 68-55 Saturday afternoon. Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, who previously orchestrated an upset over Alabama while in charge of Providence in 1987, once again made life difficult for the Tide with an inferior Iona team. Looking to hang with Alabama, Iona tried to take the air out of the Tide’s frenetic pace by holding the ball while in possession. The strategy worked for the first half as a frustrated Alabama side headed into the break clinging to a 33-32 lead. Alabama went on a stretch of nine straight misses from beyond the arc before Alex Reese stopped the bleeding with a 3 from the top of the arc to put the Tide up 45-42 with 10:47 to play. Two minutes later, the senior connected again from even farther out to extend Alabama’s lead to six as the Tide used a game-defining 11-0 run to finally put away the pesky Gaels. #AlabamaCrimsonTide #BamaInsider 30-days free to BamaInsider (Promo Code is RollTide) https://alabama.rivals.com/subscribe?plan=monthly&promo_code=RollTide Become a loyalty member - Learn more below! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXLM426XzspM1Ea4aXWMhhw/join Alabama Crimson Tide Football videos from Tuscaloosa, Alabama from the staff at BamaInsider.com. Please click the link below to subscribe on youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/Alabamafootballhighlights?sub_confirmation=1 New! Alabama Crimson Tide Podcast https://anchor.fm/bamainsider And on Itunes https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=1214015131 Bookmark our home page https://alabama.rivals.com/ Bookmark the Talk of Champions Message Boards https://alabama.forums.rivals.com/forums/talk-of-champions.16/ Latest Recruiting Nuggets https://alabama.rivals.com/news/trending-alabama-crimson-tide-recruiting-nuggets 2020 Commitment List https://alabama.rivals.com/commitments/football/2020 Bone's Premium Message Board https://alabama.forums.rivals.com/forums/alabama-recruiting-board.31/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/bamainsider https://twitter.com/AndrewJBone https://twitter.com/Rivals_Kyle https://twitter.com/Tony_Tsoukalas Get 30-Days Free to BamaInsider.com (Promo Code is RollTide) https://alabama.rivals.com/news/bamainsider-com-30-day-free-trial-subscription-4 Alabama Football Roster https://alabama.rivals.com/news/alabama-football-roster-1 Alabama Football Schedule https://alabama.rivals.com/news/alabama-football-schedule