Tide rolls to Final Four after Clemson win

LOS ANGELES (News4usonline) – Clemson didn’t lose their Elite Eight game against Alabama. The sixth-seeded Crimson Tide won it instead. 

In the finale of the NCAA West Regional, Alabama spotted Clemson and its double-digit, first-half lead and came up with clutch baskets after intermission to come away with an 89-82 win at Crypto.com Arena. 

“I couldn’t be more proud of a group of guys,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said during a postgame press conference. “We challenged them at the beginning of this tournament that we’re going to have to pick up our defense, and our defense got significantly better.”

“And they’ve just been all about winning. I mean, nobody really cares who’s scoring the points, and get a little frustrated and they just keep playing together. I mean, I’ve got multiple guys telling me to keep other guys in the game. And there’s been no selfishness in this four-game run,” Oats added. 

The win for Oates and his Alabama teams means the Crimson Tide will play in the Final Four and have a legitimate shot and contending for the national championship, a task they were expected to do last season. 

Last year, overall No. 1 seed, we should have been in the Final Four, doesn’t work that way,” Oates said. “The best team doesn’t always win because it’s a one-game elimination tournament.” 

“You’ve got to be hot at the right time. And we looked like we were not hot at the right time losing, what, four of our last six going into this tournament,” Oates remarked. 

The big difference in the game was the 3-point shooting. Alabama doubled what Clemson shot from 3-point range and that carried the Crimson Tide to the win. 

Alabama connected on 16 of 36 attempts from 3-point territory. Clemson made only 8 of its 26 attempts from behind the arc. 

“First off, what a basketball game,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “Fans were treated to some high-level play, especially in the second half. The shot-making was elite.” 

“Credit to Alabama. Give Nate and his kids a lot of credit for the win. It’s a huge win for their program. And they deserved it. Their second-half performance was outstanding. And for whatever reason, we had a hard time guarding them,” Brownell added. 

One player that Clemson had a hard time guarding was Alabama guard Mark Sears. Sears made eight of his 18 field goal attempts during the game. Unfortunately for the Tigers, seven of the eight shots Sears converted were 3-pointers. 

Sears finished the game with 23 points with 21 made from 3-point land. Most of those long daggers Sears made came in the second half where Alabama needed one clutch shot after another to keep Clemson at bay. 

Sears seemed to be savoring the moment out on the court as he showed off a bevy of emotions whenever he drilled one of his 3-pointers that had to feel like unbelievable daggers to Clemson. 

“Even though it’s intense we play the game because we have fun with it,” Sears said. “To be in those moments you dream about it as a kid, and just to have fun with it because you remember, even though it’s a business to go out there, we still gotta have to have fun with it.”

After a slugfest in the first half, Alabama and Clemson got after it in the second half with offensive fireworks all over the place. Alabama outscored Clemson 54-50 in the second period to hold off Clemson for the win. 

Early in the first half, Clemson, a team that upset No. 1 North Carolina in a Sweet 16 game, looked like they were going to run away from the Crimson Tide, building a 13-point lead in one stretch. That didn’t happen because Sears and the rest of Crimson Tide picked up their tempo ad started launching from downtown. 

Alabama guard Aaron Estrada attributes the Crimson Tide’s comeback to multiple sources.  

“I think I credit our coaches and just like I said the whole mudita thing and next-play mentality,” Estrada said. “I think that, like I said, that was the best thing that probably happened to our team because, like I said, when you hit adversity in the game, it’s easy to fold. And when we’re telling each other we’ve got each other’s back and we’re good and things like that, I think ultimately it just helps us go harder and play better.”