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Mar 23, 2025; Cleveland, OH, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide guard Labaron Philon (0) dribbles defended by St. Mary's Gaels guard Augustas Marciulionis (3) in the second half during the NCAA Tournament Second Round at Rocket Arena. | Photo: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
NEWARK, N.J. — Alabama basketball has reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the third time in as many seasons. Coach Nate Oats brought the Crimson Tide to unprecedented heights last year, taking Alabama to its first Final Four in school history.
The Tide has put itself in a position to repeat the feat in 2025, getting a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and navigating its first two games. Now, it faces a talented and free-scoring No. 6 seed BYU team that is as hot as any in the country. First-year coach Kevin Young guided the Cougars to an upset over No. 3 seed Wisconsin in their last game and is hungry to do the same to Alabama.
“They're in transition, they're good in the half court, they're good on the boards,” Oats summarized to reporters Wednesday. “They're pretty much good at everything. They're great in pick-and-rolls, so our defense will get tested against these guys on Thursday.”
Fortunately for Alabama, it has a few players in good form themselves. Mark Sears and Grant Nelson have had their typically strong moments. Labaron Philon is leading all players in the NCAA Tournament in assist-to-turnover ratio. Forwards Clifford Omoruyi and Mouhamed Dioubate had strong performances against Robert Morris and Saint Mary’s and will return to familiar territory in Newark as they look to continue that form.
“Kind of two of our New Jersey, New York guys in Cliff and Mo, playing well for us,” Oats said. “Mo is leading the tournament in 3-point percentage. He hasn't missed yet. He's 4 of 4. He's been putting a lot of work in. It's good to see the work paying off on his shot. He's rebounding it well. He's averaging 14 and 8, similar to Cliff, and shooting 80 percent from the field.”
Oats is looking for a sustained performance on the defensive end of the floor, as well as continued offensive production from a near-100% healthy roster at the right time. BYU will be a tough out in the tournament, but the Tide has the personnel to get the job done if it can sustain the high-level buy-in as a team that will be required to advance.
Here’s everything you need to know about Thursday’s matchup.
How to watch
Who: No. 2 seed Alabama (27-8) vs. No. 6 seed BYU (26-9)
When: 6:09 p.m. CT Thursday, March 27
Where: Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey
Watch: CBS (Play-By-Play: Brian Anderson, Analyst: Jim Jackson, Sideline: Allie LaForce)
Listen: Crimson Tide Sports Network | SIRIUS/XM 134/201 (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart, Analyst: Bryan Passink)
Alabama’s projected starters
Mark Sears: 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, graduate
Stats: 18.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 5.0 apg, 40.1% FG, 32.9% 3-pt
Chris Youngblood: 6-foot-4, 223 pounds, freshman
Stats: 10.0 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 0.9 apg, 44.3% FG, 39.0% 3-pt
Labaron Philon: 6-foot-4, 177 pounds, freshman
Stats: 10.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.7 apg, 45.0% FG, 29.6% 3-pt
Grant Nelson: 6-foot-11, 230 pounds, graduate
Stats: 11.7 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.6 apg, 52.7% FG, 27.3% 3-pt
Clifford Omoruyi: 6-foot-11, 250 pounds, graduate
Stats: 7.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 0.9 apg, 74.8% FG
BYU's projected starters
Richie Saunders: 6-foot-5, 196 pounds, junior
Stats: 16.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.6 apg, 51.1% FG, 43.1% 3-pt
Trevin Knell: 6-foot-5, 185 pounds, senior
Stats: 9.1 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.2 apg, 47.9% FG, 44.0% 3-pt
Egor Demin: 6-foot-9, 190 pounds, freshman
Stats: 10.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 5.4 apg, 41.1% FG, 28.1% 3-pt
Mawot Mag: 6-foot-7, 220 pounds, senior
Stats: 5.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 0.6 apg, 48.9% FG, 39.1% 3-pt
Keba Keita: 6-foot-9, 229 pounds, junior
Stats: 7.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 0.7 apg, 66.9% FG
Tide healthy at the right time
Alabama had to start its NCAA Tournament run without top rebounder Nelson. The Tide was forced to deploy him as a safety measure in the second half against Robert Morris.
Nelson toughed it out despite dealing with a knee injury and still isn't quite 100% as the Tide heads into the second weekend. That doesn’t worry Oats, however, as he looks to get the most out of his star forward against BYU.
“I talked to Grant," Oats said. "He says he was at 90%, but then his point was I've been at 90% of the most of the year. I don't know who is at 100 percent this point of the year. Cliff is for sure healthy. Grant is pretty healthy. Not 100% but close enough.”
Nelson has dealt with nagging injuries throughout his Alabama career, but that hasn’t stopped the forward from putting in some emphatic performances, especially in the postseason. Alabama needed every one of his seven minutes against the Colonials, and he chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds against Saint Mary’s. His 24-point outing against North Carolina and 19 points and 15 boards against Clemson in last year's Big Dance suggest Nelson has yet another level he can still hit this postseason.
As for the rest of the squad, Alabama got out of the first weekend unscathed with its remaining nine available scholarship players. Freshman forward Derrion Reid missed extended time during the regular season, but has started to round back into form with two good performances against Robert Morris and Saint Mary’s. The Tide will need all the depth it can get against a BYU squad that runs a 10-man rotation, but Oats is confident he’ll have the best version of his players Thursday.
"We've got everything about as close to 100 as you're going to be able to get at this point of the year,” Oats said. “And Grant is probably the furthest from that, but like he made the point to me, he hasn't been better than 90 for the last month or so. I think we'll have our full roster available for us to play this game.”
Defense must be on point against Cougars
BYU has the offensive firepower to run with Alabama. Since Feb. 12, the Cougars have been running the nation’s most efficient offense, averaging 134.7 points per 100 possessions, going 10-1 in that span. Demin is an elite playmaker and a tough matchup as a 6-foot-9 guard, while BYU's main scoring punch comes from Saunders, the Big 12's Most Improved Player this season.
"Saunders has been playing really good basketball for the last month, month and a half," Oats said. "I think double figures in 11 straight games and shooting over 50% from the field, 43 from 3. Doesn't miss much at the free-throw line. He's obviously really good. He's having a great tournament. We're going to have to do a great job on him."
The Cougars will test an improved Alabama defense from a season ago. The Tide’s ability to find a higher level on that end helped spearhead its run to the Final Four. Oats wants to channel that same energy for Thursday’s game. He even joked with reporters to talk more about how Alabama’s defense isn’t good enough to advance deeper in the tournament.
"I think this year our defense is significantly better,” Oats said. “It's still not where we'd like it to be. It's going to have to get significantly better to make another Final Four run. Because the next two teams we play — if we're fortunate to even have a second game. BYU has got the No. 1 offense in the country I think since February 12 or something like that — and then Duke and Arizona are two of the best offenses in the country, as well.”
All signs point to a shootout against BYU. The Cougars have the No. 50 ranked defense since Feb. 12, according to Torvik, while Alabama has been slightly better at No. 36. With Alabama’s pace, it should be able to find scoring avenues, while another disciplined game on the defensive glass will help it immensely in setting the tempo and preventing extra chances for the free-scoring Cougars.
The Tide’s defense, particularly its defensive rebounding, has made the difference against elite sides this season. If it gets through BYU, it will have to carry any defensive momentum it finds against either No. 1 seed Duke or No. 2 seed Arizona. The Blue Devils run the No. 1 most efficient offense in the country, according to KenPom.com. The Wildcats are now slouches themselves at No. 13 in offensive efficiency.
“I think a lot of who's going to come out of here is who plays the best defense, and some of these other teams have had better defensive stretches than maybe we've had,” Oats said. “I think we've got to get our guys' attention, which we have, and we're capable of being a great defensive team, and that's what we're going to have to do over these next couple days if we're going to get out of this four-team bracket here.”
Game notes
— Thursday’s matchup will be the third all-time meeting between the two schools and first since 2017. The Crimson Tide is 2-0 against the Cougars, including a 71-59 win on November 24, 2017 just across the Hudson River in the Barclays Center Classic. Former Alabama and current Utah Jazz guard Collin Sexton had 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
— Alabama is looking to advance to back-to-back Elite Eight appearances for the first time in program history.
— Mark Sears became Alabama's all-time winningest player in NCAA Tournament games, winning his seventh game.
— Since 2004, Sears is 11th player in Division I to have 69 career games scoring 20 points or more and is currently the only active player in Division I
— Labaron Philon became the first Alabama freshman since Collin Sexton (2018) to post 100 field goals, 100 rebounds and 100 assists in a single season
— Alabama has scored 100 points or more in 97 games in program history, with Coach Oats' teams accounting for 30 percent of that number (29 games)
— The Cougars are 17-0 this season and have won 30 straight games when shooting over 50.0 percent from the field. They enter the Sweet 16 ranked first in the Big 12 and 22nd in the nation in field goal percentage, shooting 48.3% from the field. They also ranked sixth nationally in effective field goal percentage.
— BYU needs just seven 3-pointers on Thursday to break its program record for most 3-pointers in a single season set last year. The Cougars are 372 of 998 from behind the arc this season as their 10.6 triples per game are the second-most in a single season in program history
— According to its media guide, BYU has the most married players in the country with four: Richie (Sierra) Saunders, Max (Autumn) Triplett, Trevin (Tatum) Knell and Dawson (Maddy) Baker. Creighton, Hawaii and Utah State are the only other schools in the country with multiple married players.
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