Nate Oats applauds Alabama for resilience in Grand Canyon win, looks ahead to North Carolina

Alabama advanced to the Sweet 16 tonight for the third time in four NCAA Tournament appearances under Nate Oats and their second straight. It was hard-earned in a matchup with Grand Canyon in Spokane but, in the end, the Crimson Tide found a way to get the job done.

Oats assessed his team’s performance on TBS following the 72-61 victory over the Lopes. He said that they handled the moment well, regardless of if the game was going well for them or not, and did it together as a team.

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“Yeah, I think we can handle some adversity. That’s why our word has been next like ‘go to the next play,'” said Oats. “There’s plenty of times we could have quit. We got down there late, our guys kept fighting. I can’t say enough about the group, especially without (Latrell) Wrightsell because he’s been really good for us.”

This was especially the case for ‘Bama with six minutes to go. Grand Canyon had come back from down as much as 10 to take a three-point lead. The energy had swung to the Lopes’ yet, still, they held their ground to flip the game back in their favor, specifically in the final four minutes.

“I told them get in the huddle. We gotta turn this momentum. I went to the whole bench, like, ‘We’re winning this game Just turn the momentum. Let’s get it back,'” Oats said. “So we turned the momentum and got it back. They got some stops and got some buckets. Mo’ Dioubate was huge for us off the bench. He made huge plays for us. Super happy for us.”

It was not your typical Alabama victory on Sunday. They hit just eight threes as a team, with five of them coming from Mark Sears himself, as they shot it at 25.8% behind the line. That and the general pace of the game led them to score almost 19 points below their season average.

However, they grabbed 50 rebounds as a team with 20 coming on the offensive glass. They also held the Lopes to 32.1% from the field and 10% from three as most of their offense came off of 23 makes from 37 attempts at the free-throw line.

With Grand Canyon not hitting a shot over the final six minutes or scoring a point over the last four, the Tide were able to retake the lead and take it by 11 by closing the game on a 17-3 run.

This effort was enough to send Alabama to the second weekend of March Madness. With what’s up next for them, though, in No. 1 North Carolina, Oats knows they’ll need to be better if they want to then make it to the Elite Eight.

“It’s not easy to get to the Sweet 16. Carolina’s really good. We’re going to have to play significantly better than we did tonight,” said Oats. “But we’re in the game. We’re playing ’em Thursday. We’re looking forward to it.”