Alabama tops North Carolina to advance to second-ever Elite Eight
LOS ANGELES – For the second time in school history, Alabama is heading to the Elite Eight.
The No. 4-seed Crimson Tide defeated 1-seed North Carolina, 89-87, in Thursday’s Sweet 16 matchup at Crypto.com Arena. The win improved the Crimson Tide’s record to 24-11 on the year and 2-9 in Sweet 16s. This marks Alabama’s first Elite Eight appearance since 2004.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Aaron Estrada, playing in his first-ever Sweet 16 game, opened the scoring with a jumper. Rylan Griffen knocked down the contest’s first 3-pointer at the 17:50 mark to give Alabama a 7-4 lead, but North Carolina scored 10 straight points before an Estrada jumper ended its run. The Heels scored five more points to take their largest lead of the half, 19-9, before the Crimson Tide found some offense. Alabama went on a 20-7 run over the next five minutes. After another Griffen trey with 5:11 until halftime, however, UNC matched that with a 20-7 streak of its own to take a 54-46 lead into the No. 1-seed’s locker room at intermission.
Mark Sears opened the second half with a layup, which gave him the record for the most points in a single season. Grant Nelson sparked a quick, 7-0 run with five straight points to give UA a second-half lead, 59-57, with 13:56 left to play. But like the first half, Carolina countered with its own 7-0 spurt to lead 66-61 with under 10 minutes on the clock. Alabama slowly chipped away at the 1-seed’s advantage, tying the game with 5:26 to play (75-75) and taking the lead during a personal 7-0 run by Nelson at the final media timeout (82-77).
But UNC used an 8-0 streak to reclaim the lead, 85-82, but a combination of Sears and Nelson, who completed an and-1 play to give Alabama an 87-85 advantage. The Tar Heels had a shot to tie the game but turned it over on a shot-clock violation. Nelson made two late free throws to make it an 89-87 game, and the Tide held on to keep its postseason alive.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Nelson led Alabama with 24 points and scored 19 of them in the second half. The senior tallied a double-double with a team-high 12 rebounds and also recorded five blocked shots. A trio of other Crimson Tide players scored in double figures, including Estrada (19 points), Griffen (19) and Sears (18). Griffen led the team with five made threes on eight attempts. Four guys from Carolina also contributed double-digit points Armando Bacot paced the Tar Heels with 19 points and 12 rebounds. RJ Davis added 16 points but was held to 4-of-20.
KEY STATS
Alabama shot 48 percent (32-67) from the field and 42 percent (11-26) from three. Meanwhile, North Carolina was 38 percent (30-78) from the floor and 38 percent (12-32) from beyond the arc. That included a 2-16 showing from deep in the second half for the Tar Heels. The Tide missed six free throws, while UNC only missed two. Carolina led in several key stats, including rebounds (46-43), second-chance points (20-15) and steals (8-4). But UA had an edge in points in the paint (36-32), fast-break points (8-4) and blocks (7-3).
OATS QUOTE
“Our guys showed some character. They’ve been showing some character these last three games. We’ve been questioned all year on defense, probably rightfully so, but our defense showed up particularly in the second half. We had a game plan.
“You’ve got to give North Carolina credit. They’re a very good team. They’ve played well all year. We had a game plan. Gotta give Cadeau and Trimble a lot of credit. We planned on leaving them open; they hit four 3s in the first half. We questioned whether to stay with it or not. We decided to stick with it. Those guys ended up not playing very many minutes, 13 between the two of them. I think the plan was right.
“Sometimes stuff doesn’t go your way. They didn’t hit that many 3s but we stuck with it. Our word has been “next,” this whole tournament — next play, next play. They hit it. I told them, that’s on me. Next play. Next play. We’ll figure it out. We made adjustments, made adjustments, and these guys just kept making plays.
“And I’ll say Sears — he scored at least 20 points, I don’t know how many straight games, 20 out of the last 22 or something. Late he’s been great for us. I went to him when we were down there late. And I said, (indiscernible). He said forget it, get it to Grant, Grant’s cooking, let’s go. When you have your leading scorer and best player to tell you run plays for somebody else, we used the word Mudita we stole from Coach Murphy with softball. That’s the definition of Mudita. Vicarious joy through Grant’s great game. And Grant has 24, 12 and five. He showed up.
“And we’ve been in one Elite Eight in the history of Alabama basketball. This dude showed up tonight in a big way against one of the bigs in the country. And Bacot was good. He had 19, 12 and one. Grant had 24, 12 and five. I think people question whether we’re frail, soft, Grant showed we’re not. We can go with the big boys.
“And Clemson’s good. Clemson beat us at our place. We’ve got to get locked in and figure it out. They’re a really good team. We’ve got a short-lived celebration. I told them they can celebrate about 30 minutes. As soon as the media is out of the locker room, we’ve got to get moving on to Clemson.”
WHAT’S NEXT
Alabama will face Clemson in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight on Saturday, March 30, at Crypto Arena. That will be the later game, tipping off around 7:49 p.m. CT on TBS/truTV.
You can watch the tournament live on Prime Video. Add on your favorite channels and watch at home or on your phone or laptop at work!
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