Oats said he'd spoken to a longtime friend in the NBA who told him it's all down to getting back to fundamentals, including improvement in guarding one-on-one, boxing out, sprinting back and communicating. He added that leadership on that starts from the top down, including himself.

Missouri's student section hasn't forgotten about last season's showdown against Alabama basketball. Judging by signage in the student section at Mizzou Arena, "the Antlers" hope that Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats remembers to keep his hands off opposing players.

No. 4 Alabama has lost back-to-back games by nine and 12 points. In those losses to No. 1 Auburn and No. 15 Missouri, the Crimson Tide fell into early 9-0 and 12-0 holes, respectively. Nate Oats knows Alabama needs to have better starts to games.