While Alabama basketball blew out Missouri 93-75 on Tuesday night, there were some controversial fireworks during the game. Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats was caught on video pushing Missouri's Aidan Shaw after an altercation between Shaw and Alabama's Aaron Estrada in the first half.

It all began when Estrada fouled Missouri's Anthony Robinson II with 7:34 remaining in the first half. Shaw approached Estrada as Robinson walked away from the fracas. Oats got between the two players and then pushed Shaw back toward his bench.

Here's the video:

Nate Oats' apology

After the game, Oats apologized for his inappropriate actions, per ESPN's Jeff Borzello.

“I have all the respect in the world for the job [Gates has] done as an assistant and head coach,” Oats said. “No disrespect to him or his program. I apologized to both Coach Gates and Aidan Shaw. Aidan seems like a great kid. It's an unfortunate situation, but I apologized to both of them.”

Oats and Gates had a cordial meeting at half court after the game ended with no further incident.

Why no T?

The Missouri basketball coach acknowledged the apology after the game, but he also had an important question to ask about how things played out with Nate Oats.

“Nate apologized after the game,” Gates said. “But I just posed the question: If that was players in a huddle with a hand on an opponent, what would take place? It would be an automatic technical foul, right? I thought 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?”

It's certainly a good question. It's hard to imagine the refs just didn't see what happened. According to ESPN, “there are no specific guidelines for this in the SEC Commissioner's Regulations for 2023-24, aside from a reference to SEC Bylaw 10.5, which states, ‘All individuals employed by or associated with a member insulation, including institutional staff members, student-athletes, boosters, and fans, are expected to conduct themselves with honesty, integrity, and good sportsmanship, and shall therefore exhibit respect and courtesy towards opposing student-athletes, coaches, and game officials.'”

Whatever happened, the refs decided not to punish Nate Oats, and Alabama cruised to victory over Missouri. We'll see if this leads to any bad blood in the future, even after the apology.