The Alabama basketball team is headed to the Final Four for the first time ever. The Crimson Tide took down Clemson basketball on Saturday night to punch their ticket, and they are now two wins away from winning a national title. Saturday night's game was a slugfest and it came down to the final minute, but Alabama found a way to get it done, and they are dancing their way to Phoenix.
One thing that is interesting about this Alabama basketball team is that four out of five of their starters are transfers. The transfer portal is a massive part of the game now, and Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats did a great job of utilizing it last offseason. This team has done a great job of coming together, and they are now taking Alabama to the Final Four for the first time ever.
“They're good kids, the chemistry came together, we fought some adversity, we just kept next play for this tournament, next play, next play, we had some adversity here, we were down big early, down 13, and guys just hung in, hung in, hung in and stuck to the plan,” Nate Oats said after the game, according to a tweet from CBS Sports College Basketball. “Our defense has been a lot better in this four-game run than it was during the regular season. We just finally got them to guard like they're capable of, and shoot, this guy [Mark Sears] has been leading us the whole way.”
The path to this point hasn't been easy as the Crimson Tide have had to go through some tough teams, including North Carolina, the one seed in their region. Alabama played as a team and got the job done.
Mark Sears was huge for Alabama basketball
Mark Sears was the player of the game for Alabama. He hit big shot after big shot and was lethal from beyond the arc. He finished the game with 23 points on 8-18 shooting, and he was 7-14 from deep. He got off to a slow start, but he found his stride and stepped up big time.
“He showed up,” Nate Oats said in regards to Mark Sears. “He always finds his way to 20, I don't know what he ended up with tonight, but he missed his first however many shots, he just hung in there. *box score gets handed to him* He had 23 tonight, it was big.”
The Crimson Tide did get down early as Clemson basketball led 26-13 in the first half. However, Alabama went on a run right after that and got settled in. When this team is hitting their threes, they are incredibly hard to beat.
Now, Alabama basketball is on to the Final Four in Phoenix and they will take on the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, UConn basketball. The Huskies dominated Illinois on Saturday and they are looking to win a second straight national title. The two teams will square off on Saturday with a spot in the national title game on the line, and it should be a great matchup.
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