Bama Central

Live Blog: Alabama Basketball vs. Robert Morris in NCAA Tournament

Insight and score updates from Rocket Arena in Cleveland as the Crimson Tide takes on the Colonials in the Round of 64.

Katie Windham

Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio ahead of Alabama's Round of 64 matchup with Robert Morris
Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio ahead of Alabama's Round of 64 matchup with Robert Morris / BamaCentral
In this story:

CLEVELAND–– BamaCentral is inside Rocket Arena in Cleveland for Alabama basketball's opening game of the NCAA Tournament against Robert Morris in the Round of 64.

The Crimson Tide has gotten almost a full week to rest and recover after losing to Florida in the SEC Tournament semifinals. Forward Grant Nelson is available to play for Alabama, but it is still unknown whether or not he will play.

The Colonials have won 10 straight games coming into the NCAA Tournament, and Alabama is trying to make sure it isn't part of anyone's Cinderella story.

Tipoff is scheduled for 11:40 CT on TruTV. BamaCentral will provide updates throughout.

Live Blog

(latest updates at the top)

FINAL: No. 2 Alabama 90, No. 15 Robert Morris 81

Second Half

Alabama will survive and advance.

1:02- Dickerson fouls out for RMU and gets a standing ovation from the crowd inside Rocket Arena. Nelson makes one free throw to push the Tide lead to 84-75

1:12- Ball out of bounds under review with Alabama leading 83-75. Call on the floor went Alabama's way, and it looks like it should stay Tide ball.

Nelson gets a big round of applause from the Alabama bench as he checks out with Alabama up by double digits with less than two minutes left.

Robert Morris calls timeout after a Kam Woods 3 cuts the RMU deficit to 79-71 with a little over two minutes to go.

2:35- Alabama calls a timeout leading 77-68

3:24- Alabama 74, Robert Morris 66- Sears will be at the free throw line after the break trying to convert the and-1 after drawing Dickerson's fourth foul. There will be a lot of free throws coming in the next few minutes, so the Tide will need to finish strong at the FT line.

Nelson is fired up after drawing that rebounding foul on Dickerson. The two have been going back and forth on the free throw line.

4:58- Officials are going to the monitor to check on if the foul on Holloway was flagrant or not. After review, it stays a common foul.

Alabama retakes the lead on a lob to Nelson and bucket by Sears, 68-65 Alabama

7:10- Robert Morris takes its first lead of the game, 65-64

Dickerson hits the free throw to cut the Alabama lead down to one. He has 24 points and eight rebounds playing in front of his hometown crowd.

7:44- Alabama 64, Robert Morris 62- Dickerson will be at the free throw line coming out of the timeout. RMU now has 14 offensive rebounds compared to three for Alabama. The Tide is just not clashing the glass–– too many guys staring at the ball expecting it to fall into their hands instead of boxing out. Robert Morris is on a 16-8 run since Alabama went up 10 points.

Nelson heads to the scorers table to check in after Robert Morris cuts the Alabama lead to two. However, Aiden Sherrell just put the Tide back up four at 62-58

Grant Nelson was really trying to encocourage and hype up his Alabama teammates during the media timeout.

10:53- Alabama 56, Robert Morris 52- Colonials aren't quite done yet, and the crowd in Rocket Arena is really trying to rally behind them.

Robert Morris goes on a 6-0 run out of the timeout to cut it to 56-52.

12:18- Youngblood picks up his third foul.

That was Reid's first 3-pointer since Jan. 11 against Texas A&M.

12:39- Robert Morris calls timeout after Alabama ties its largest lead of the game on a Derrion Reid 3-pointer as the shot clock expires. Alabama 56, Robert Morris 46

Omoruyi has been hobbling a little bit after getting pushed out of bounds earlier. Something to keep an eye on.

14:49- Dioubate picks up his third foul for Alabama. He has 14 points

15:44- Alabama 49, Robert Morris 44- Mark Sears hit his first 3 of the game for the Alabama to answer after the Colonials had cut it to two. Robert Morris is still out-working Alabama on the boards. Omoruyi has a new season high for Alabama with 17 points.

Nate Oats calls on Dioubate from the bench after RMU gets another offensive rebound.

First basket of the second half for Alabama is more of the same: another lob to Omoruiy. He's up to 17 points.

Same starting lineup for Alabama to open the second half (Sears, Philon, Youngblood, Stevenson and Omoruyi.)

Halftime Notes

  • Grant Nelson is warming up for the second half, which doesn't necessarily mean he's going to play because hd warmup before the game, too. Nelson does seem to be moving pretty easily though.
  • Mark Sears only has 3 points and attempted just three shots in the first half.
  • Alabama's largest lead was 10 points at 28-18. Robert Morris never led.
  • Robert Morris had eight offensive rebounds in the first half.
  • Clifford Omoruyi leads all scorers with 15 points.
  • Robert Morris did not attempt a free throw in the first half.
  • Not a great end to the half for the Crimson Tide.

First Half

HALFTIME: Alabama 40, Robert Morris 36

Sears draws a foul with 1.5 seconds left and makes one of his two free throw attempts.

During the commercial break, any Alabama fan that was shown on the jumbotron got booed, and fans of any other team received cheers.

Nate Oats calls timeout with 11.6 seconds left in the first half to set up a final shot after Robert Morris hits a 3 to cut Alabama's lead back down to three points. The Colonials only have one more rebound than the Crimson Tide, but there's no reason they should have any sort of lead in that category. Alabama has been diving for loose balls, but has been missing some of the easier balls around the rim lately.

3:22- Alabama 34, Robert Morris 29- Good sign for Alabama that Stevenson was able to check back into the game. Omoruyi is dominating for the Tide. He is 6-of-6 from the floor with 13 points.

An Omoruyi poster dunk ends the little bit of a run Robert Morris had been on and pushes the Alabama lead back to 34-29.

And Stevenson immediately checks back into the game after Dioubate picked up his second foul.

Jarin Stevenson returns to the bench with his left hand heavily wrapped.

This place is getting loud in support of RMU after a breakaway dunk cuts the Alabama lead down to 32-29

7:39- Alabama 28, Robert Morris 18- Mouhamed Dioubate leads all scorers with 8 points and has already hit two 3s. He is now shooting 43 percent from 3 on the season. If Alabama is without Stevenson and Nelson for the rest of the game, that could create some interesting problems for the Crimson Tide. Nelson put on a thicker brace once the game began and has been sitting towards teh end of the bench.

Stevenson is down on the floor after a hard collision underneath the Alabama basket. He's looked at by Oats and trainer Clarke Holter. Stevenson heads straight for the locker room.

Alabama with the blue collar-type play Oats is looking for with Chris Youngblood and Jarin Stevenson diving for a loose ball.

11:33- Alabama 19, Robert Morris 11- The teams traded 7-0 runs during that stretch between media timeouts. Derrion Reid off to a good start for Alabama with 4 points and 3 rebounds after playing essentially 10 minutes of live basketball for the Tide over the last month since his injury.

The crowd in Rocket Arena is definitely backing the underdog today.

If you had Dioubate making Alabama's first 3-pointer, congratulations. He hits the Tide's first of the game to go up 12-4

Derrion Reid, Aden Holloway, Aiden Sherrell and Mouhamed Dioubate all check in for Alabama after the first media timeout. Sears is the only starter to remain on the floor.

15:54- Alabama 5, Robert Morris 2- Neither team has gotten off to a great start shooting, but Alabama is playing really hard on both ends of the floor so far (Robert Morris is 1 for 8.) Alabama has only gotten four shots up so far, partially because of two turnovers.

Nate Oats yells at Jarin Stevenson for not getting back after his turnover with Alabama leading 5-2.

Alabama wins the opening tip, and this game is underway.

Starting lineups:

Alabama vs. Robert Morris starting lineups
Alabama vs. Robert Morris starting lineups / NCAA

Jarin Stevenson starts in place of Grant Nelson.

Pregame

Alabama got more boos than cheers during the starting lineup introduction.

Tonight's officials: Michael Irving, Evon Burroughs and Chad Barlow

Looks like Nate Oats is sporting a new sports coat. He went with a greenish coat for the NCAA Tournament debut.

There are a couple hundred Alabama fans in attendance. With the Robert Morris campus about two hours away, there's a decent number of Colonial fans in here.

About 20 minutes until tip, the arena is around 50 percent capacity.

The Million Dollar Pep Band is here along with the Alabama cheerleaders, dance team and Big Al.

Chris Youngblood, Mark Sears and Aden Holloway are draining 3s in warmups.

Grant Nelson is going through warmups for the Crimson Tide. He has a sleeve on his left leg, and it looks like his left knee is heavily wrapped underneath.

Both teams have taken the floor for warmups. I have a front row courtside seat, so I will be up close and personal with the action today.

Published |Modified
Katie Windham
KATIE WINDHAM

Katie Windham is the assistant editor for BamaCentral, primarily covering football, basketball gymnastics and softball. She is a two-time graduate of the University of Alabama and has covered a variety of Crimson Tide athletics since 2019 for outlets like The Tuscaloosa News, The Crimson White and the Associated Press before joining BamaCentral full time in 2021. Windham has covered College Football Playoff games, the Women's College World Series, NCAA March Madness, SEC Tournaments and championships in multiple sports. 

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