Nate Oats Shares Brutally Honest Assessment Of Alabama's Horrible Defense

Alabama coach Nate Oats knows his team's defense is incredibly poor.

The Crimson Tide were embarrassed Tuesday night in a 105-87 loss to the Florida Gators. Giving up 100+ points in a college game certainly happens, but it's hardly something you see on a regular basis when good teams meet.

Yet, the Gators had no problem pouring it on Oats and his squad. The problem? Oats doesn't seem to think his team understands what it means to be keyed in on playing defense.

Nate Oats addresses Alabama's horrible defense after Florida loss.

"It's one of those deals where our guys have to understand that there's a defensive mindset that has to be there every play no matter what happens on offense and really, to be honest with you, no matter what happens on defense. You can play great defense and they throw in a tough shot, a tough call goes against you, whatever, you can't let that frustrate you. You can play great defense for four or five minutes, offense isn't going well, you have a couple turnovers, you miss some open shots, like, that can't frustrate you if you're really a defensive minded team. And right now we have too many guys get frustrated and then have too many let-downs."

You can watch Oats' full comments below, and let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

Oats isn't wrong with his assessment that his team doesn't exactly understand how to play defense with a high level of consistency.

The Crimson Tide have given up at least 80 points in nine of the team's last 13 games. That's simply a staggering stat.

What might be even more shocking is the team is 8-5 during that run. Somehow, Alabama is still winning at a respectable level, despite seemingly thinking defense is optional.

Alabama coach Nate Oats appears very aware of the fact the team has a defense problem. [Doug Engle/Ocala Star Banner via USA Today Sports Network]

The good news for Alabama is the team is a lock for the NCAA tournament. The bad news is there's little time left to fix the team's broken defense. That means the offense might have to carry the team forward as its only hope. That's not a position any program wants to be in at this point of the season.