Nate Oats receives public reprimand from SEC for actions during Missouri game
Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats received a public reprimand from the SEC after he made physical contact with a Missouri player during the game Tuesday.
“Nate Oats’ actions were unacceptable and violated the expectations for conduct and sportsmanship as established by the membership of the Southeastern Conference,” said SEC commissioner Greg Sankey in a statement. “Under no circumstances should a coach make intentional contact with a student-athlete on an opposing team.”
At one point in the first half, Alabama guard Aaron Estrada was exchanging words with Missouri's Aidan Shaw during a scuffle in front of the Crimson Tide bench. Oats then stepped in and pushed Shaw away.
"No disrespect to him or his program," Oats said postgame. "I apologized to both coach (Dennis) Gates and Aidan Shaw. Aidan seems like a great kid, and it’s an unfortunate situation and I apologized to both of them. I wanted to address that before I got going."
Gates noted the apology during his postgame press conference. Then he posed this question, because Oats was not issued a technical foul.
"I just pose the question, if that was players in the huddle, with a hand on an opponent, what would take place?" Gates said "It would be an automatic technical foul. I saw two referees in the huddle. It wasn’t a technical foul. But that’s the question I would pose. If it was players, making hand contact, what would take place?"
NATE OATS: Nate Oats addresses his push, Dennis Gates asks questions after chippy Alabama-Missouri game
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This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Nate Oats: Alabama basketball coach receives public reprimand from SEC
