Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
NCAA Basketball Tournament: How To Watch Alabama vs. Maryland
You always want to save the best for last, right?
Saturday's second-round play in the 2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament will wrap up with the top-overall seed playing the the final game. No. 1 Alabama vs. Maryland, seeded eighth in the South Region, has been scheduled to tip at 8:40 p.m. CT, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham.
The game will be shown on TBS.
It'll also be the second game of a remarkable doubleheader at the site, with Houston and Auburn, seeded first and ninth in the West Region, respectively, playing at 6:10 p.m., also on TBS.
You don't think Alabama fans arriving early won't be cheering against their SEC rival, do you? Nah.
The winners advance to the Sweet 16 next weekend.
How to Watch Alabama vs. Maryland
Who: No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 8 Maryland, South Region
When: 8:40 p.m. CT, Saturday
Where: Legacy Arena, Birmingham, Ala.
TV: TBS
Live Stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial)
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart; Analyst: Bryan Passink).
Series: Maryland leads 4-2
Last Meeting: Almost two years ago to the day, March 22, 2021, the teams met in the NCAA Tournament, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indiana. Alabama won 96-77 to advance to the Sweet 16. Jaden Shackelford had 21 points and John Petty Jr. netted 20 for the Crimson Tide. The two guards combined to make nine 3-point shots.
Scouting Maryland: Kevin Willard is the first coach in Maryland history to lead his team to the NCAA Tournament in his first season. Coming off a second-round loss to Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament, it was 22-12, No. 31 in the NCAA NET rankings with three Quad 1 wins and six Quad 2 wins.
The Terrapins are known for their defense, allowing just 63.2 points per game,
Maryland Leaders
- Scorer: graduate guard Jahmir Young / 16.1 ppg / 531 points
- Rebounder: sophomore forward Julian Reese / 7.3 rpg / 233 rebounds
- Assists: Young / 3.2 apg / 104 assists
- Blocks: Reese / 1.2 bpg / 38 blocks
Last Time Out, Alabama: It opened the tournament with a 96-75 victory over No. 16-seeded Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Thursday afternoon.
The Crimson Tide had five players reach double figures on the offensive end, led by 19 from Nick Pringle, 15 from Mark Sears, 13 from Jahvon Quinerly, 11 from Nimari Burnett and 10 from Noah Clowney. Pringle scored all 19 of his points in the second half to go along with 15 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
Alabama jumped out to an early 9-0 lead with seven of the first nine points coming from Clowney. Alabama made 10 threes during the opening 20 minutes, taking a 54-34 lead into halftime. Sears led all scorers at the break with 13 first-half points, along with 10 points from Clowney to give UA the 20-point halftime cushion.
The Crimson Tide (30-5) is outscoring its last four opponents 48-18 in the first few minutes of the last four games.
Coach Nate Oats quote: “March, survive and advance, I think that's what we did. It was a good offensive game. Our defense has to get a lot better by Saturday. It was nice to come out and make some shots. I was happy to see Mark. He's been in the gym working a lot since the SEC weekend. It showed. I thought he came out, shot it really well. Four straight game Trey's -- JQ started. He started out with early leads in all of them. Kind of changed the narrative of that. We were up 9-zip this game, I think. If you combine our total starts it was 48-18 these last four games. It's nicer to play with a lead from the beginning. We had 21 assists tonight. I think the ball has been moving. Shows how unselfish our guys are. They kept playing. Kept fighting. They had a great start to the second half. I believe Tennyson had 0 at half and ended up with 20 in the second half. Wasn't great for our defense. We'll be better against Maryland; we are going to have to be or we won't get a win. Great to move to the second round. None of these tournament games are supposed to be easy.”
Last time out Maryland: It outlasted No. 9 West Virginia 67-65, in a back-and-forth first-round game on Thursday.
Julian Reese led the Terps with 17 points and nine rebounds. Hakim Hart had 15 points, including the go-ahead basket with 3:30 left, with four assists, and three rebounds.
Donta Scott scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Jahmir Young tallied 10 points along with three rebounds and three assists. Don Carey connected on 3-of-6 three-pointers and scored nine points.
Coach Kevin Willard quote, on what he told his team down 11 with almost 10 minutes remaining until halftime:
"I told them, I said let's not get down 20. You know the sideline reporter asked me. She is like, are you worried? I said we're only down nine and we have four points. That's a celebration on the road. So we've gotten off to slow starts on the road. But you know when you look up and you have six turnovers and it's only 13-4, there's reason to be excited. I'm a guy who looks at everything in a positive way, so I told the guys. Guys, it's 13-4, we have six turnovers. If that's the best they can do then I think we're in pretty good shape."
See Also:
No. 1 Alabama Handles Texas A&M-CC in NCAA Tournament First Round
Mark Sears is Returning to Form at the Perfect Time for No. 1 Alabama
BamaCentral Courtside: No. 1 Alabama 96, No. 16 Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 75
