Alabama Punches Back To Score Big Tourney Upset, Now One Win Away From Final Four
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — We witnessed a shift in the Alabama men's basketball team on Thursday night against UNC. And it came at the half because it's all the post-game personnel wanted to talk about when mourning the one-seeded Tar Heels' two-point loss, 89-87, to Nate Oats' Crimson Tide in a much-discussed Sweet Sixteen battle.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: The Alabama Crimson Tide celebrate in the locker room following the win against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the Sweet Sixteen round of the 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament held at Crypto.com Arena on March 28, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Rylan Griffen #3 & Aaron Estrada #55 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrate in the locker room following the win against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the Sweet Sixteen round of the 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament held at Crypto.com Arena on March 28, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
UNC took the lead, 54-46, and the momentum into the break, which all followed the script people had for the Tide.
The Tar Heels commanded the boards early and their offense out-paced Bama's defense, especially in the closing moments of the half.
But then the Tide came back roaring, catching audiences by surprise, which felt like a sucker-punch to UNC.
Stunned them into emotion as Tar Heels gathered in the locker room, everyone with a towel over their head, tears in their eyes and a solemn look as their March ended, just two rounds shy of a national title appearance.
A group of reporters huddled around sophomore Seth Trimble, who expressed that this year's team felt unique; almost destined to win it all.
It's what people from Tuscaloosa to Durham previewed. The first half played into the forecasts until Oats rallied his men to defy expectations.
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The shift was palpable, from the fans to the players.
Bama came out faster, hungrier than UNC.
Crypto.com Arena sounded like Chapel Hill as UNC fans and Clemson leftovers from the first game on Thursday cheered for the Tar Heels and jeered the Crimson Tide.
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Remembering that Nate Oats' team featuring Brandon Miller last year couldn't run this deep in the tournament makes the win all more mystifying. Did the controversy have that much of an impact on Bama's team?
Rather than hosting a lottery NBA pick on the roster, the Tide opted for a collective effort, which propelled them over Hubert Davis' mighty Tar Heels.
It took Aaron Estrada's 19 points; Mark Sears and Rylan Griffin shooting pure heat from downtown; or Grant Nelson putting on his grown man pants for a vital 24 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks against the bigger UNC group.
"We've been working for this all season," Nelson said in the postgame. "It's good we got here. It's something at the school, we haven't done, only one other time."
To think that last year's Nate Oats team was seen as a case of dysfunction to advancing to the Elite Eight a year later.
With 1:57 left in the fourth quarter — UNC up by one point, 83-82 — OutKick's Trey Wallace texted a funny quip about how I'd somehow always end up at a "memorable" Alabama game.
Be it Nick Saban's final game at the Rose Bowl or Thursday's marquee March Madness game … yes, it did feel oddly funny.
Then I remembered, unfortunately, that a "good" Bama game isn't always a "winning" Bama game. (Sorry, Jalen Milroe.)
WIth Bama down one point in the closing moments, the dominoes appeared to fall in place for Nate Oats and the Bama team to take another shellacking for losing to UNC.
But they didn't. They actually won, now 2-9 in the Sweet Sixteen round.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Head coach Hubert Davis of the North Carolina Tar Heels walks off the court after losing to the Alabama Crimson Tide during the second half in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Crypto.com Arena on March 28, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The Alabama Crimson Tide won, 89-87. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Head coach Nate Oats of the Alabama Crimson Tide speaks at the press conference following their win against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the Sweet Sixteen round of the 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament held at Crypto.com Arena on March 28, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ben Solomon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
This kind of cohesion makes this Tide team hard to count out. Saturday's upcoming matchup between the Tide and Clemson is a tale of two underdogs, hoping to see which dog has a real bite.
This team can pull off one more shift to top Thursday's halftime adjustments.
With a win on Saturday, and one more win to reach the national title game, Bama men's hoops can usher in the era of Crimson Tide athletics, perhaps now spearheaded by basketball rather than football, for once.
Sure, one national title won't be enough to eclipse the panoply of championships by Bama football.
If this Tide team wants it bad enough, it's all there for the taking.
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