Alabama HC Nate Oats discusses what he told team after loss to Ole Miss

It was a tough loss to take at home for Alabama, which came into Tuesday night's clash with No. 21 Ole Miss ranked No. 4 in the country.

Nate Oats' team lost 74-64 while committing 21 total turnovers and being outrebounded on the offensive glass.

Those two stats alone are indicative of a bad loss, and in a news conference after the game, Oats revealed that he told his team they didn't play as if they deserved to win that game.

“I told our guys in the locker room after the game, we have to deserve to win, and we didn’t deserve to win this game, Oates said (h/t On3). Ole Miss came in and they deserved to win this game. You have to deserve it with your preparation going into the game and then you’ve got to deserve it with your effort once you’re in the game and we — the team that deserved to win tonight won the game tonight.”

That's a pretty scathing take from Oats, but being a top five team in the country and losing on your home court is unacceptable if the Crimson Tide want to be a real threat come March.

They'll have to quickly rebound and get back on track because their next game is against No. 8 Kentucky on Saturday.