For a guy who is coaching a team that is 20-3, sitting atop the best conference in the country, and may be ranked No. 1 in the next AP Top 25 Poll, Nate Oats sure is testy. The Alabama Crimson Tide went on the road and picked up another big SEC win on Saturday night, dispatching of John Calipari's Arkansas Razorbacks by the final score of 85-81, but after the game, Oats voiced his displeasure with how quickly the tide turned in the 2nd half — pun intended — nearly leading to a Razorbacks comeback victory.

“We gotta realize an 18-point lead, we’re not playing just to win the game. And we almost lost the game after being up 18,” Oats said after the game, per Blake Byler of On3. “We’re not playing to win the game. We’re playing to get better on every possession. And when you start playing the scoreboard and you don’t play to get better on every possession, that’s the stuff that happens to you.”

If it weren't already clear that Oats was displeased with the way Alabama let an 18-point lead diminish down to 2 points in just about six minutes of action, he made sure there were no secrets between him, his players, and all of the members of the media who were listening to what he had to say.

“I’m a little irritated because we played really well for 30 minutes. We got the turnovers fixed to start the second half, and then, again, I got to go back and look, but I feel like our guys just relaxed,” Oats said. “We’re not tuned in enough on the defensive end like we need to be in. And it’s a little frustrating to me, to be honest with you.”

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Nate Oats' point is valid. The Tide are the highest scoring team in the country, putting up 90 points per game. But Bama ranks 330th in points allowed. That's out of 352 teams, meaning only 22 teams give up more points per game than Alabama does, which is a product of their pace, but a 102.7 defensive rating — 158th in the country — leaves plenty to be desired.

So what can Oats do about Alabama's defensive issues?

“Maybe I gotta have some other guys in there,” said Oats. “Some guys were tired. I don’t know. But I’m gonna have to look at that film on that last kind of 10 minutes of the game and see what happened.”