Alabama rolls into Sweet 16 after shockingly easy victory over Texas Tech
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Alabama came out on fire and kept the fire burning all night long in Tampa, taking down Texas Tech in stunningly easy fashion in a 90-65 victory that booked its 4th straight trip to the Sweet 16.
After Florida‘s equally stunning upset loss to Iowa in a second-round thriller earlier in the night in Tampa, the mood was exactly the opposite later in the evening in the same arena, as any kind of drama surrounding this SEC-Big 12 showdown was sucked out with each Alabama basket that led the way to a 49-25 halftime lead.
It was supposed to be a down-to-the-wire matchup between the No. 4 seed Crimson Tide and No. 5 seed Red Raiders, like a lot of 4-5 matchups are, but Alabama’s offensive brilliance took away any kind of competitiveness from this one. Texas Tech is going home after finishing at 23-11, and the Tide (25-9) are headed back to the Sweet 16, a place that’s become very familiar to Bama fans during this special era of Bama basketball being authored by Nate Oats.
Alabama has yet to go all the way under Oats, getting to the lone Final Four in program history in 2024. The Tide will continue to pursue that elusive basketball national title against Midwest Region top seed Michigan (33-3), with the schools known way more for their past football showdowns, especially recently, hooking up for a Sweet 16 matchup next Friday night in Chicago.
The Tide and Wolverines will tip things off at the United Center at around 7:35 p.m. ET on TBS and truTV.
Alabama continued to thrive in this NCAA Tournament without the suspended Aden Holloway, and it hasn’t missed a beat offensively, scoring 90 points against Hofstra in its first-round victory on Friday and coming back 2 days later and putting up another 90 points in its destruction of the Red Raiders from the Big 12.
The Tide actually shot slightly better from 3-point territory (45%) than they did from the field (44%), making 19 shots from long distance in all. Latrell Wrightsell led the way in the 3-point showcase for Bama, going 6 of 9 from long distance and pouring in a game-high 24 points to go with 4 rebounds and 2 steals.
Labaron Philon Jr. played more of a floor game after his offensive showcase against Hofstra, coming back on Sunday with 12 assists to go with 9 points and 6 rebounds. Amari Allen added 12 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, Aiden Sherrell chipped in 10 points, while Houston Mallette pumped in 15 points and 8 rebounds off the bench as Bama had its way all night.
The Tide dominated the boards, too, outrebounding Texas Tech, 47-35, while dishing out a whopping 25 assists against just 8 for the Red Raiders.
But it wasn’t a typical Alabama track-meet game where its offensive thrives but its defense suffers. The Tide had it working on both ends on Sunday night, holding Texas Tech to just 34% shooting from the field and 16% from 3-point territory.
LeJuan Watts led the Red Raiders with 16 points, but he needed 14 shots to get those points, and Bama held Jaylen Petty to just 9 points after Petty had burned Akron for 24 points in Texas Tech’s first-round victory on Friday.
It was a 1-sided late night in Tampa in favor of the team from the SEC, and now the Crimson Tide will take their crack at mighty Michigan next Friday night in the Windy City.
Alabama’s drive to get to the Final Four is alive and well after Sunday night’s blowout victory, and here is what the Kalshi market currently sees for the top teams in the mix to get all the way to Indianapolis:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
