All season long, people have commented on Alabama basketball being one of the deepest teams in the country. And that's with season-ending injuries to veteran players Latrell Wrightsell and Houston Mallette, two guys who expected to have roles on this year's team.
With Grant Nelson and Derrion Reid healthy enough to play, Alabama can still confidently go 10-deep. It was that depth that proved to be overwhelming for Saint Mary's, a team that doesn't like to play more than seven guys in the rotation.
As a result, four of Saint Mary's five starters played 34+ minutes in Alabama's 80-66 win. Conversely, Alabama didn't have a single player go over 30 minutes. Grant Nelson and Labaron Philon led the Crimson Tide in minutes played with 28 each. Mark Sears only played 26 due to foul trouble, but was rarely missed during his stretches on the bench.
Alabama has the ability to effectively make line-changes like hockey teams do and not miss much of a beat with whoever is on the court. Nate Oats was able to even pair his two centers - Cliff Omoruyi and Aiden Sherrell - together to combat the big Saint Mary's front line.
"I thought we wore them out, particularly toward the end of the 1st half," said Oats.
With 7:33 to play in the first half, Alabama led just 27-24. From there, the Crimson Tide outscored the Gaels 15-5 to take a 42-29 lead at halftime.
From there, Saint Mary's never got the game closer than seven points in the second half as Alabama was able to keep the Gaels at arm's length for the entire second half on the way to a 14-point win.
Pushing the pace and securing defensive rebounds was key in Alabama's win
Alabama needed to push the pace and clean up the defensive glass to have success against Saint Mary's. The Gaels play at a deliberate pace, ranking 360th out of 365 Division I schools in tempo. Alabama, unsurprisingly, is No. 1 in that stat. The Tide prefers to get games into 80+ possessions. That's not really possible against Saint Mary's, but Alabama was able to get the game into the 70s, which allowed the Crimson Tide to do what it wanted to do on the offensive end.
Alabama scored 80 points, becoming the first team to do so against Saint Mary's in the last 105 games played by the Gaels.
"I thought we were able to get into their lack of depth a little bit, and with the pace that they typically play, I don’t think that ever really affects them," said Oats.
You can get away with a seven-man rotation when you keep possessions down. It's a lot tougher to do so when you are trying to run with the Crimson Tide. Oats knew Alabama had a distinct advantage with its depth, something that is true against the majority of teams the Tide plays.
Getting quality minutes out of freshmen like Sherrell and Reid in the NCAA Tournament is huge. Some fans have been calling on Oats to shrink the rotation all year, but his refusal to do so paid major dividends in Alabama's 2nd Round win.