Two games into the NCAA Tournament, the Crimson Tide certainly look up to the task.
Chris Youngblood led six players in double figures with 13 points and No. 2 seed Alabama powered its way past seventh-seeded Saint Mary's 80-66 on Sunday to reach the Sweet 16 for a third straight year.
The Crimson Tide (27-8) will face sixth-seeded BYU in Newark, New Jersey, in the East Region semifinals on Thursday, the nation's highest scoring team looking every bit a threat to reach the sport's biggest stage yet again.
“It’s tough to guard us when you’ve got six guys capable of getting double digits,” Oats said.
It's tough to guard Alabama in general, even on a night when All-American guard Mark Sears spent the first half dealing with foul trouble and made just 5 of 15 shots on his way to 12 points.
A year ago, that might have slowed the Crimson Tide. Not now. Alabama built a 13-point halftime lead with Sears watching intermittently from the bench and never let the Gaels (29-6) make it interesting late. The Crimson Tide responded to every mini-surge with a burst of their own that often featured an alley-oop dunk, the most spectacular a reverse jam by Clifford Omoruyi that put them up 14 with less than 8 minutes to go.
“I feel like we’ve been slept on,” Crimson Tide forward Grant Nelson said. “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.”
And Alabama has a lot of “everyones." Nine players played at least 11 minutes as the Crimson Tide became the first team to reach 80 points against Saint Mary's in more than two years.
“I think our depth, our tempo did get to them,” Oats said.
Mitchell Saxen led the Gaels with 15 points, and Jordan Wessels added 11.
Saint Mary's shot just 25% (9 of 36) in the first half. The Gaels tried to pound it inside in an effort to slow the game down but looks that dropped regularly while winning the West Coast Conference regular-season title fell away time and again and Alabama pounced.
“If we had made our shots, made our layups, it would have been a close game at halftime and then who knows,” coach Randy Bennett said. “But yeah, we just didn’t.”
Forced to pick up the tempo a little bit against the nation's highest scoring team, Saint Mary's spent most of the final 20 minutes trading baskets with a group that has grown accustomed to success this time of year under Oats.
Two-time West Coast Conference Player of the Year Augustas Marciulionis finished with 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting, and the Gaels made just 3 of 14 3-point attempts. The school's third Sweet 16 appearance will have to way another year at least.
“The more you do it, the more you feel like you can break through,” Bennett said. “I feel we can.”
Takeaways
Saint Mary's: The Gaels have pulled even — and the last two years surpassed — longtime WCC power Gonzaga during the regular season. The watershed March run that has defined the Zags' success has remained elusive for Saint Mary's, which must replace three senior starters.
Alabama: The Crimson Tide just keep coming at opponents in waves. While Sears didn't have a great night offensively, it hardly mattered. Backcourt mates Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway were happy to pick up the slack, combining for 18 points and eight assists.
Up next
Alabama heads to New Jersey looking to reach the Final Four for a second consecutive year. Their depth and pace will make the school a tough out, though they will face another team that likes to push the pace in the Cougars.
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