A Piece of Nate Oats' Clipboard / Obtained from Cal Tobias on X/Twitter
No. 4 Alabama men's basketball couldn't have had a worse start to the road game against No. 15 Missouri on Wednesday night.
A little over two minutes into the game, the Tigers came out swinging as their 5-for-7 clip from the field while the Crimson Tide's 0-for-3 slate with two turnovers led to an immediate 12-0 lead in front of a raucous Mizzou crowd.
Alabama's offense started to wake up and put points on the board, but the Crimson Tide defense was nowhere to be found.
Down 42-28 with just over five minutes remaining in the first half, Alabama head coach Nate Oats received a technical foul. It was uncertain as to why the whistle blew and then the replay was shown.
As seen in the video, Oats slammed his Alabama clipboard down and broke it into several pieces. The impact caused many of the clipboard parts to go flying across the Mizzou Arena hardwood, and one piece ended up by the media camera section under the basket.
This was Oats' first technical foul of the season, but it's deeper than just that. It was the first time in 330 days and 28 games that this happened. It's his 27th tech at Alabama and first of the season.
The Crimson Tide closed the first half down 59-46. It's Missouri's most points scored in a half against a ranked opponent this season and the fourth-most in a half this season (most in SEC play). Alabama's 10 turnovers are tied for the third-most in a half in SEC play.