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Alabama Basketball: 3 things the Tide should worry about against BYU
By David Wasson
Published:
Although it could be argued that the 2025 NCAA Tournament has been one of the chalkier NCAA Tournaments in recent history, there is little debate that one of the minor upsets in the first weekend of March Madness begat Alabama’s Sweet 16 opponent.
The 6-seed BYU Cougars upended No. 3 seed Wisconsin 91-89 in the second round, escaping a torrid comeback attempt by the Badgers that fell tantalizingly just short before the buzzer. That earned BYU a trip from Denver to Newark and a date with the No. 2 seed Alabama Crimson Tide on Thursday night.
Alabama followed up a lackluster 90-81 first-round victory against No. 15 seed Robert Morris with a more complete performance in the second round against Saint Mary’s – dispatching the 7-seed Gaels 80-66 for a third-straight Sweet 16 appearance.
But what will it take for the Crimson Tide to get past the Cougars and into the Elite Eight? Here are 3 keys to an Alabama victory:
1. Let Mark Sears cook
Wisconsin wrote the script for Sears and the Tide in the second round, as guard John Tonje lit up the Cougars for a tournament-high 37 points – the first player in March Madness so far to crack 30. Tonje went 10-of-18 from the floor and 14-of-16 from the line, scoring 52 points in 2 games. And his 37 points against BYU were the most by a Badger in NCAA Tournament history.
Sears, on the other hand, has been relatively muted – scoring 22 points (19 of which came in the second half) against Robert Morris, and added just 12 points while dealing with foul trouble against a stingy Saint Mary’s defense. Although the 6-5 Tonje isn’t the 6-1 All-American Sears, Tonje still exposed plenty of backcourt weakness that Sears can exploit for the Crimson Tide to get back to the Elite Eight.
Sears can go just as deep, as evidenced by the 30 points he dropped on Florida and Kentucky and the 35 he laid down against Missouri down the stretch. Simply put: keep Sears on the floor and watch what happens.
2. Step on the gas
Saint Mary’s must’ve felt like a 40-minute slog through wet concrete for Alabama, given that the Tide own the highest-flying offense in college basketball at 90.8 points per game. And Saint Mary’s was intent to stick with its formula – which combined pounding the ball inside on offense and stymying the Tide on defense – with only mixed results.
Alabama will find a much more willing running buddy in BYU, as coach Kevin Young’s NBA-style offense mirrors Alabama’s with a torrid pace, lots of 3s (the Cougars shot 46% from deep against Wisconsin) and heavy on athletes with long arms who alter shots.
BYU gets after it, no doubt – dropping 81.3 points per game. But there were times when the Cougars were ground to a relative halt against top-20 opponents (scoring just 54 points in a 20-point loss to Houston and 66 points in an 18-point loss to Cincinnati).
Going fast and scoring big is Alabama’s jam, one that coach Nate Oats has deployed time and time again against a stacked SEC this season. Let’s hope Alabama packed the track shoes for this one, as the Prudential Center scoreboard could get an Association-style workout.
3. Distribute the rock
Another facet of Alabama’s second-round victory was that it wasn’t 1 or 2 Crimson Tide players that led the offense. On the contrary, 9 Tide players played at least 11 minutes against the Gaels en route to becoming the first team to reach 80 points against Saint Mary’s in more than 2 years.
“I feel like we’ve been slept on,” Crimson Tide forward Grant Nelson said after the victory. “There’s a lot of people saying things about us like we’re about to lose this game. So we knew we had to come out and bring energy. I feel like the starting group kind of got us going, and then everyone came in and did their job.”
“It’s tough to guard us when you’ve got 6 guys capable of getting double-digits,” Oats added. “I think our depth, our tempo did get to them.”
That depth was the superstar against Saint Mary’s, as 4 of 5 Tide starters scored in the double digits (led by Chris Youngblood’s 13 points). Aden Holloway (12 points) and Mouhamed Dioubate (10 points) were among the stars off the bench.
For Alabama to make it back to the Elite Eight for a second-consecutive year, Oats will need to not be shy shuffling fresh players to the scorer’s table in an effort to overwhelm BYU with waves of talent not often seen in the Big 12.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
