NEWARK, N.J. – Though the Elite Eight is one win away for the Alabama men’s basketball team, Head Coach Nate Oats said the Tide needs to play at an “elite level” today.
No. 2 seed Alabama will take on No. 6 seed Brigham Young in the NCAA Tournament East Region Sweet 16 today at 5:09 p.m. CT on TBS.
“Our defense is going to have to be elite, but our offense is going to have to be really good, too,” he said.
“Labaron (Philon)’s leading the entire tournament in assists-turnover ratio, he’s playing really well for us. We need him to be elite on both sides of the ball for us.”
For Clifford Omoruyi and Mo Dioubate, this will be a homecoming of sorts.
Omoruyi transferred to Bama from Rutgers and was New Jersey’s Gatorade Athlete of the Year after leading his high school to the New Jersey state championship.
Dioubate is from across the river in Queens.
The two figure prominently in the Tide’s success.
“Cliff’s scoring well, averaging 14 and 8 and then Mo Dioubate, two of our New Jersey-New York guys, is leading the tournament in three-point percentage, he hasn’t missed, yet,” Oats said. “He’s been putting a lot of work in and it’s good to see the work paying off. He’s rebounding well, he’s averaging 14 and 8, similar to Cliff.
“Hopefully, we’ll continue to play well on offense but our defense is going to have to be at an elite level.”
The team spent an hour and 45 minutes on the game floor Wednesday getting used to the surroundings at Prudential Arena.
The Crimson Tide and Cougars will meet for the third time in series history and the first time in the postseason. Alabama won both of the previous two contests, the most recent coming in a 71-59 win on Nov. 24, 2017.
The Tide advanced to the East Regional Semifinal contest thanks to a 90-81 victory over 15th-seeded Robert Morris in the first round and an 80-66 win over No. 7 seed St. Mary’s in the round of 32. The Cougars reached the tournament’s second weekend with wins over No. 11 seed VCU (80-71) and No. 3 seed Wisconsin (91-89)
A victory over the Cougars would give the Tide its second consecutive Elite Eight appearance, and third such showing in program history (2004).
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