No. 1 Alabama Advances to Sweet 16 for Second Time in Three Years with Gritty Win Over No. 8 Maryland

The Crimson Tide grinded out a win over the Terrapins in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament to advance to the Sweet 16.

Austin Hannon | Mar 19, 2023

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Alabama Crimson Tide

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It's sweet for Alabama Basketball.

Late Saturday night, the top-seeded Crimson Tide (31-5, 16-2 SEC) defeated the 8-seeded Maryland Terrapins 73-51 to advance to the Sweet 16 of the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

"I'd like to thank the city of Birmingham and everybody for putting this on," head coach Nate Oats said. "It's been unbelievable to play in front of our hometown fans. The chance to go to the Sweet Sixteen. I thought that was great for our program, great for the state of Alabama, great for the city of Birmingham. So just thank whoever is responsible for bringing the tournament here and putting it on. It was good."

It wasn’t easy for Alabama in the first half. The Terrapins (22-13, 11-9 Big 10) defended very well — forcing the Crimson Tide into just 28 points in the first 20 minutes.

The game opened up for Alabama in the second half. The Crimson Tide piled on 45 points in the second frame to run away with a victory in the Round of 32.

After scoring zero points in Alabama’s first round win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Brandon Miller scored 19 on Saturday night. It still wasn’t his best game offensively but he did enough. He also grabbed seven rebounds — a specialty for him.

"It felt great, just being out there," Miller said. "It's just a blessing just being out there. I think growing up as a kid — for all kids, it's a dream for them. To be here is just a blessing to be here to play and compete with my team."

Jahvon Quinerly continued his strong play in March, scoring 22 points on 9-for-14 from the field. Like Quinerly, Charles Bediako has been impressive for Alabama over the past few weeks. He added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

"Man, just looking at his injury and where he's come from, I think it's crazy," Miller said. "Really proud of him. Look at him like as a big brother. Always looked up to him. Not even just about him scoring 20. I think it's him sitting down on defense and getting stops that we need. That's not just about scoring the ball in the hoop — it's the margin plays, diving on the floor, who is getting all the rebounds. Just a great person to have around."

Time and time again this season, the Crimson Tide has shown it doesn’t have to light it up on offense to win games rather comfortably. Alabama shot just 40% from the field and 29% from deep.

Even though it is thought of as an offensive powerhouse, the Crimson Tide is just as dangerous on defense and rebounding the basketball. Maryland shot 35% from the field and 13% from 3-point range.

Alabama, as it usually does, won the rebounding battle — 44-32.

Even if you’re not highly-efficient on offense, you tend to win if you dominate the other areas of the game.

That’s been the mantra plenty of times this season for the Crimson Tide. When Alabama needs to impose its will — it does.

It’s on to the Sweet 16 for the Crimson Tide for the second time in three years. Two of the other No. 1 seeds, Purdue and Kansas, can’t say the same thing.

Two years ago, the Sweet 16 is where the dream season ended for the 2020-21 SEC regular season and tournament champions.

It will be No. 5 seed San Diego State up next for Alabama in Louisville, Ky. Date and time from the KFC Yum! Center is still TBD.

"Playing in the Sweet Sixteen and losing to UCLA two years ago, I remember that feeling," Quinerly said. "I'm just going to let the guys know that, you know, we're close. We're very close, but we still got a ways to go, and we're definitely going to, you know, prepare as best as we can."

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