Ad Disclosure
Alabama advances to the Sweet 16 with win against Saint Mary’s
By Mark Kern
Published:
Alabama entered the NCAA tournament with Nate Oats saying the team needed to do some soul-searching if the team wanted to go on a long run in March.
So far, so good as the Crimson Tide knocked off St. Mary’s, 80-66, to advance to the Sweet 16 on Sunday afternoon.
It was a balanced scoring attack for the Crimson Tide, as they had six guys scoring in double figures. Leading the way for Alabama was Chris Youngblood, who finished with 13 points. The most positive news for Alabama may have been the fact Grant Nelson appeared to me much healthier than he was in the first round game.
In that game, he came off the bench and played only 7 minutes. On Sunday, he started and finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds, looking more like the player that Alabama needs him to be in order to make a deep run.
After letting Robert Morris hang around the entire game earlier in the week, the Crimson Tide set the tone early against the Gaels, building a 42-29 lead at the half.
Saint Mary’s was led by Mitchell Saxen, who finished with 15 points.
The Crimson Tide are back to the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive year, as they will take on the BYU Cougars next weekend. These teams are 2 of the best offensive teams in the country, which should give fans an entertaining game. A tipoff time will be announced at a later time.
