Alabama basketball's first round matchup with 15-seed Robert Morris was more anxiety-inducing than any Crimson Tide fan or player probably expected or hoped for. With 7:10 to play, Alabama actually found itself trailing by one point before a 10-2 run finally gave the Crimson Tide a little bit of separation.
The hardest playing, most physical team was not Alabama, as Nate Oats would have hoped. It was Robert Morris. The Colonials wanted it more. They consistently beat Alabama to loose balls and played with a relentless effort, particularly on the offensive glass. Robert Morris won the battle of the offensive rebounds 16-5.
That being such a mismatch was unexpected, and something that Oats was clearly not happy about in the postgame.
"If we continue to let this happen, we won't be playing for too much longer," said Oats in reference to being -11 on the offensive glass.
Oats pointed out all the players for Alabama who didn't come down with a single offensive board. That included Cliff Omoruyi and Mo Dioubate, two of the best rebounders on the team. Diobuate was key in cleaning up the defensive glass, particularly down the stretch, though. Nine of his team-leading 10 rebounds came in the final seven minutes of the game.
Alabama will need greater effort to get to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament
If Alabama's 2nd round opponent is St. Mary's, Alabama is going to face one of the best rebounding teams in the country. The Gaels start a pair of players 6-foot-10 or taller and they are 2nd in the country in offensive rebound rate. They rebound 40.5% of their misses.
If Alabama brings a similar effort on the glass that they brought with them against Robert Morris, St. Mary's is a more talented team and fully capable of sending the Crimson Tide home.
Alabama hoped to get out of the first round without having to play a banged up Grant Nelson. The graduate senior forward demanded to be put in the game with a little over eight minutes to play and Alabama leading by just four points. The Tide needed his energy and effort down the stretch to escape with a victory.
They'll need much more from Nelson in Sunday's game regardless of the opponent. I would expect him to start, even if he's not able to play 30+ minutes.
Alabama will also need more from its guards and hopefully a better game shooting from three. The Tide hit just 6-of-21 from three and got little scoring from either Aden Holloway or Labaron Philon. Mark Sears struggled in the first half, but came alive down the stretch and scored 19 second-half points.
If Alabama struggle to shoot and puts forth a similar effort on the glass, then Oats is correct that the Crimson Tide's NCAA Tournament run could be over as soon as Sunday. While I don't agree that anything short of a Final Four run would make this season a disappointment, a first weekend exit with the expectations this team had coming into the season would certainly qualify.