It was never pretty, and there's plenty of reason to be concerned moving forward for Alabama basketball, but the name of the game in March Madness is to survive and advance. The Crimson Tide survived and they will advance to the 2nd round to the play the winner of St. Mary's and Vanderbilt on Sunday.
Alabama led for most of the way but were lackadaisical with box outs and allowed Robert Morris to dominate the offensive glass and keep the game close. The Colonials took their only lead of the game with 7:10 to play, but it didn't last long. An alley-oop from Aden Holloway to Grant Nelson gave the Tide the lead back for good.
That sparked a 10-2 Alabama run that allowed the Crimson Tide to pull away for the 90-81 win.
3 Takeaways from Alabama's (final score) win over Robert Morris
3. Alabama's effort was poor overall and will cause an early exit if it isn't corrected
Alabama won this game for one reason: they were the more talented side. Nate Oats talks all the time about being the hardest playing, toughest team on the court. The hardest playing, toughest team on the court this afternoon was Robert Morris.
The Colonials - led by Amarion Dickerson - outhustled and out-toughed the Crimson Tide. Robert Morris finished with 16 offensive rebounds and the Tide had no answer for Dickerson, who finished with 25 points, 9 rebounds (6 offensive), and 5 stocks (steals + blocks).
Robert Morris was +11 on the offensive glass and it allowed them to take 20 more shots than Alabama. The Tide connected on 58.6% of their shots from the field, though they struggled from three, and still only won by nine because they were beaten to what felt like every loose ball.
Robert Morris didn't have enough juice to pull the upset. But both St. Mary's and Vanderbilt do. If Alabama comes out on Sunday and plays with similar effort, they'll go home, and they'll deserve to.
2. Offensively, Alabama dominated the paint
Alabama had an efficient offensive game despite shooting 6-of-21 (28.6%) from three-point range. The paint, offensively at least, was a mismatch in Alabama's favor. The Tide opened the game with a lob for a dunk to Cliff Omoruyi, and that continued for most the game.
Omoruyi was 8-of-8 from the floor and scored 17 points. Mo Dioubate was excellent off the bench and finished with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds on 8-of-10 from the floor.
Mark Sears and Labaron Philon fed the ball into the paint for easy buckets all afternoon. The two combined for 18 assists and only three turnovers with Sears joining Dioubate in the double-double club with 22 points and 10 assists.
For the game, Alabama scored 56 of their 90 points in the paint.
1. With their backs against the wall, Alabama turned to Grant Nelson
According to Oats in the postgame, Nelson went to him and asked to be put in the game. He had sat for the first 32 minutes of action, although he was available to play. With eight minutes to play, Nelson came into the game with the Crimson Tide leading by just four points. Alabama outscored Robert Morris by five from there to get the 90-81 win.
He scored five points, grabbed three rebounds, and added a steal in under eight minutes of play. He brought an effort off the bench that had been lacking for most of the afternoon.
Oats wanted to hold him out until Sunday to give him an extra two days of rest with the knee injury, but ultimately he had to go to his trusted veteran forward to ensure Alabama came away with the opening round win.