Everybody knows which players are going to get locked up during the Alabama Crimson Tide's March Madness run. Coach Nate Oats has relied on Mark Sears consistently and even Grant Nelson at some point.

Alabama men's basketball's 94-85 home loss to Auburn on Feb. 15 was the beginning of a downward spiral for the Crimson Tide as it has now lost four of the last six games––all of which came against ranked teams.

Nate Oats summed up No. 7 Alabama’s effort and toughness against No. 1 Auburn on Saturday. “I thought defensively we were better,” the Alabama coach said at halftime with his Tide leading 45-42 on the road. There is one aspect his Alabama team needs to address.

It took every second of the game for Alabama to triumph over Auburn. Mark Sears had to beat out Miles Kelly and Denver Jones on the last possession to get a shot up for the win. This took a lot of effort and Coach Oats wants whatever work they put into this game to be ranked properly, via Matt Stahl of AL.com.

Alabama basketball's Nate Oats didn't think his play design was very good on Mark Sears' game-winner vs. Auburn. Sears disagreed.

The Iron Bowl rivalry didn’t disappoint once again on Saturday. Alabama basketball went down to the wire with Auburn in one of the best college basketball games of the season, and the ending didn’t disappoint.

The Crimson Tide coach discussed Alabama basketball's buzzer beater road win against Auburn. Colin Gay. Watch Next .