TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Before beating then-No. 25 LSU, Nate Oats asked his team which SEC squad finished with the best season a year ago, before Oats joined the league.

An Alabama player responded with LSU, which won the regular-season title in 2018-19. But Oats was looking for the team that had the best season, start to finish, last year. The obvious answer was Auburn, which won the SEC Tournament and played in the Final Four.

“I said, ‘Does anyone happen to know what Auburn’s record was after 12 games?’” Oats said. “Somebody in there was smart enough to know that they were 6-6, and I said, ‘Well, let’s get to 6-6 and then see what we can’t do in the last third of conference play.’”

The Crimson Tide men’s basketball team sits with a 14-11 (6-6 SEC) record with six games left before the conference tournament in Nashville, Tenn. Coming off a huge win over LSU this past weekend, Alabama’s hopes of making the NCAA Tournament are still very much alive.

But how many wins does Oats think the Tide needs to win over the next six contests?

“We’re at 14 right now with six to go,” Oats said with a small smile. “If we get to 20, we’re in.”

Alabama enters its upcoming game against Texas A&M (12-12, 6-6) with the No. 36 overall NET ranking and the No. 5 overall strength of schedule. The Tide is fifth among SEC teams with only Kentucky (24), Auburn (25), LSU (29) and Florida (35) owning better NET rankings.

Of UA’s six remaining regular-season contests, four will come against Quadrant 1 or Quadrant 2 games. The remaining Quadrant 1 contest is on Feb. 25 at Mississippi State (No. 53) on Feb. 25. Heading into Wednesday night’s game, Alabama is a combined 6-10 against Quadrant1 and Quadrant 2 teams, owning 2-6 mark against Quadrant 1 opponents this season.

Oats believes reaching 18 or 19 wins is pivotal for the Tide down this last stretch, especially with some of its earlier wins, and losses, possibly changing in terms of how they’re perceived.

Alabama head basketball coach Nate Oats

“Let’s control what we can control,” Oats said. “But some of this is going to be, you know, how does a Penn play? Does that loss end up being Quad 4 or Quad 3? How does a North Carolina play? Who would’ve thought that that would be a bad loss for us right now? How do some of those teams we played early in the year end up shaking out, like an LSU or an Auburn? Like, where do they shake out because those are both home wins. If they end up not being in the top 30, that’s not a Quad 1 win anymore. So, some of that goes into play.

“We’re going to control what we can control. We’re going to try to win as many as we can these last six. And then you’ve got to go to Nashville and win as many as you can there.”

The first-year head coach also mentioned again that injuries could -- and in his opinion should -- be taken into account. Alabama played five games without its best defensive player in Herbert Jones and dropped three winnable games against Penn, Arkansas and Tennessee. But Jones has returned to the lineup, strengthening the Crimson Tide’s postseason chances.

“They also look at how you finish the year,” Oats said. “So, how do we finish these next six games? I think they’re supposed to take a team that’s hot in February and March over a team that got all of their quality wins back in November, December. Hopefully, we are hot in February and March. Hopefully, we’ve done enough when it comes time on Selection Sunday that we’re playing in the tournament.”

Oats and company will look to continue to make a case for a tournament bid Wednesday, Feb. 19, against Texas A&M (6 p.m. CT on SEC Network). Getting back to .500 in conference play, Oats would like to see his team go on a run similar to its in-state rival a year ago.

“I’m not necessarily saying we’re a Final Four team or anything like that, but they were 6-6 and they went on a big run and didn’t lose many games. … Why can’t we do the same thing?” Oats said. “The way the schedule’s set up, they’re all losable games we’re playing, but they’re all winnable games, too. Every last one of our last six games are winnable games, and if we don’t play well, they’re losable games. Let’s get ourselves locked in.

“Let’s go on a three-week sprint here to the end of the season. Do everything we possibly can to get in the gym on your own, study a little extra film. Everybody do a little bit extra and see if we can’t push ourselves over the edge and start winning the close games that we were losing and go on a run here and finish the year out.”

Contact Charlie Potter by personal message or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).