Alabama Basketball: Bring on the Terps in Round 2

As expected on Thursday afternoon in Birmingham, Alabama Basketball took care of business. The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated 16-seed Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, 96-75.

The easy win for the Crimson Tide came with the Tide’s leading scorer recording zero points. Brandon Miller played just 19 minutes in the game, missing his five shot attempts, but contributing five rebounds and three assists. According to Nate Oats, Miller is still recovering from a groin injury.

Alabama was led in scoring by Nick Pringle, with 19 points and 15 rebounds. The Crimson Tide made 15 threes for 45% outside the arc. Mark Sears made his first three, three-point attempts. Noah Clowney provided 3-of-4 threes, Nimari Burnett was 3-of-6; Noah Gurley made his only two three-point attempts. Walk-on Delaney Heard made his single three-point shot.

The game was the mismatch expected for an overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

After the game, Nate Oats said,

"We’ll be better against Maryland. We’re going to have to be, or we won’t get a win."

Nate Oats was able to put the game and the NCAA Tournament in an appropriate perspective,

"They say in March, survive and advance. I think that’s what we did.It was a good offensive game. Our defense needs to get a lot better by Saturday."

Alabama Basketball Defensive Execution

Though Nate Oats was unsatisfied with Alabama’s defense, the Crimson Tide held the Islanders to 35% shooting and recorded eight blocked shots.

Earlier on Thursday, a resilient Maryland team edged West Virginia, 67-65. The Terps dug themselves a hole early with five turnovers, allowing West Virginia to take a 16-4 lead. After clawing back, Maryland led at the half, 32-30.

In the second half, West Virginia went on a 10-0 run and led by nine points. Maryland refused to quit again. The Terrapins matched the physicality of the West Virginia team, always coached by Bob Huggins to be the most physical team.

Alabama’s defensive game plan for Maryland was prepared before the Thursday games. Charlie Henry will quickly tweak it and likely place added significance on slowing Maryland’s 6’9″ sophomore forward, Julian Reese. Aggressive play by Reese, along with his quick footwork was a mismatch for West Virginia, leading to foul trouble for the Mountaineers.

Alabama and Maryland last met in the 2021 NCAA Tournament second round, with the Crimson Tide winning, 96-77. Saturday’s tipoff time has not been announced, but the game will have another heavily pro-Bama crowd.