BamaCentral Courtside: No. 5 San Diego State 71, No. 1 Alabama 64
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Alabama's road in march is finally over.
On Friday night at the KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville, Ky., the No. 1-overall seed Crimson Tide was upset by the 5-seed San Diego State Aztecs, bringing Alabama's run the 2023 NCAA Tournament to a screeching halt in the Sweet 16.
The loss makes the second ousting in the Sweet 16 by the Crimson Tide over the past three seasons.
"I mean, it's a lot of really good programs in the country that have lost," Alabama coach Nate Oats said when asked about being eliminated by lower seeds. "I mean, we could go down the list of them. That's what makes the NCAA Tournament the NCAA Tournament. They're all good teams.
"You know, we were going to lose to a team seeded lower than us unless we won the national championship this year. We were the No. 1 overall seed."
On the night, Alabama shot just 23-of-71 from the floor (32.4 percent) and 3-of-27 from beyond the arc (11.1 percent). While the Crimson Tide was able to out-rebound the Aztecs 52-48, 14 turnovers by Alabama led to 15 points for SDSU, stifling the CrimsoN Tide in its tracks.
With Alabama once again eliminated, it's time to go back to the drawing board for Oats, who will likely see a decent amount of player turnover along with the two coaching departures already announced in Bryan Hodgson and Charlie Henry.
Despite the loss, Oats is still pleased with what his team was able to accomplish.
"A lot of programs would love to be in the NCAA Tournament three straight years," Oats said. "A lot of them would have loved to have won the SEC regular season tournament twice in the last three years.
"We're doing pretty good things at Alabama, and we're going to continue to get better."
Check out the video in this story where the BamaCentral staff breaks down the Crimson Tide's 71-64 loss at the hands of the Aztecs.
Alabama Stats
San Diego State Stats
