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Paolo Uggetti, ESPN
LOS ANGELES — Alabama coach Nate Oats had been firm with his team. During the first two rounds of the men’s NCAA tournament, the Crimson Tide had beaten teams — Charleston and Grand Canyon — that they were supposed to beat. As far as Oats was concerned, getting to the Sweet 16 did not need to be celebrated.
“We haven’t done a thing yet, so let’s not act like we’ve done anything yet,” Oats said of the message he had imparted to his team. “Now, if we can beat [North] Carolina, now we’ve done something.”
The Tide could celebrate Thursday night.
Against the No. 1 seed in the West region, Alabama did not back down. Oats’ team not only matched the Tar Heels blow for blow but outlasted them in a dramatic 89-87 victory that gave Alabama its first Elite Eight berth since 2004, only the second in program history.
“We’ve been working for this all season,” said senior forward Grant Nelson, who posted 24 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks. “It’s good we got here. It’s something at the school, we haven’t done, only one other time.”
Leading up to the game, the Crimson Tide had been self-aware enough to know that their defense was not going to limit UNC’s offense to 60 points. This was going to be a high-powered offense going up against another high-powered offense.
It’s why Alabama was content to turn the game into a fast-paced affair in which lead changes and scoring runs by both teams were inevitable. All that mattered in a contest that was close throughout was who could step up in the end. Efficiency, not volume, would determine the winner, and Alabama won that battle by shooting 47% from the field and 42% from deep.
The journey to the win wasn’t easy. After the Tide cut UNC’s lead to three points just before an Alabama timeout with 8:10 remaining in the second half, Oats thought his team was running out of gas, but the Alabama huddle oozed a kind of confidence that told the coach his team was prepared for the stretch run.
“That timeout I thought won the game with the energy in the huddle,” Oats said. “Things were not going well at that time. Things had gone well, and they were trending the wrong direction. We came out, made a run, Grant Nelson got going, and we took off from there.”
Despite the collective team effort, Alabama needed someone to step up. Down five points with just over seven minutes remaining, Nelson went to work.
The 6-foot-11 senior from North Dakota played like a wrecking ball on both ends. Facing off against Armando Bacot, Nelson scored 15 points in the final seven minutes of the game and added three crucial blocks on defense over the final 1:39 to seal the victory.
“I didn’t start this tournament with the best two games,” Nelson said. “These guys are saying, go out there, go get a bucket. Really, that gives me a lot of confidence, and I give them a lot of credit. I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Oats said not even he saw this stat line coming from Nelson, even though he knew the potential for a breakout game was there. And Alabama got it at the perfect time.
“[Grant] showed up tonight in a big way against one of the best bigs in the country,” Oats said. “I think people questioned whether we’re frail, soft. … Grant showed we’re not. We can go with the big boys.”
Even as Oats & Co. basked in the statement victory, the Tide’s coach was thinking about what comes next: crafting a game plan for their matchup against a Clemson team that already beat them at home earlier this year.
“Our word’s been ‘next’ this whole tournament. Next play. Next play,” Oats said. “I told the guys they can celebrate for 30 minutes. As soon as we get the media out of the locker room, we’re on to Clemson. … We won’t be getting a lot of sleep tonight.”