Alabama center Clifford Omoruyi off to impressive start to NCAA Tournament
Alabama is 2-0 in the NCAA Tournament, and center Clifford Omoruyi has had strong showings in the Crimson Tide’s wins over Robert Morris and Saint Mary’s to advance to the Sweet 16.
It started with a season-high 17 points in Alabama’s 90-81 win over the Colonials in Friday’s first round. Omoruyi shot a perfect 8-of-8 from the field and recorded three steals and two blocks in his first March Madness action since the 2021-22 season at Rutgers. But Omoruyi only finished with four rebounds, as Robert Morris out-rebounded the Crimson Tide, 39-37.
The big man, however, responded by pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds on Sunday night against Saint Mary’s and helped Alabama win on the glass, 41-36. It marked Omoruyi’s second double-double of the season, as he also scored 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting and added two more blocked shots. It was his 12th game in double figures and third straight.
Omoruyi won the postgame Hard Hat award for registering the most blue-collar points against the Gaels. His teammates celebrated the achievement in the locker room at Rocket Arena, but not as much as his reverse slam dunk on a lob from Mark Sears in the second half.
In his first two NCAA Tournament games in an Alabama uniform, Omoruyi has combined for 27 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks, three steals and two assists. The 6-foot-11 center has also only missed two field goal, turned it over one time and he has yet to commit a foul.
After the 80-66 win over Saint Mary’s, Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats was asked what had clicked for Omoruyi of late and proceeded to praise the big’s play on both ends of the court.
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“I hope something is clicking with him because when he’s playing really well like he was tonight, we’re a different team,” Oats said. “I thought he was great against Robert Morris.
“… I think he’s more than capable of having a double-double every game out. He played 25 minutes and had 10 and 11 with two blocks. Shoot, he even had two assists tonight.
“I thought he was really good and did a good job kind of challenging their bigs. Their bigs are good. They’re big. They punch in the post a lot. You kind of look at what they did. (Mitchell) Saxen had a good game. He had 15 and five. He shot 7-of-12 from the floor. (Harry) Wessels was only 3-of-9 from the floor.
“I thought Grant (Nelson), Aiden Sherrell, Cliff kind of affected those two guys a little bit.”
Omoruyi and Alabama will travel to Newark, New Jersey to face 6-seed BYU in the Sweet 16.
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