Alabama Basketball Dominates Glass Earning Emphatic NCAA Tournament Win

TAMPA, Fla. -- Nate Oats' season long message finally sank in for the Crimson Tide on Sunday night in the NCAA Tournament. 4-seed Alabama dominated the glass on both ends of the floor and cruised to a 90-65 victory over 5-seed Texas Tech to advance to the program's fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance.

"Our guards are going to have to rebound this game," Oats said on Saturday before the matchup against the Red Raiders, echoing his messaging throughout the year. The Crimson Tide guards did exactly that as Houston Mallette (8), Labaron Philon (6), Latrell Wrightsell (4), Amari Allen (4), and Jalil Bethea (4) combined to pull down 26 boards and helped Alabama control the boards for a 47-35 advantage.

The Crimson Tide excelled on the glass from the very beginning, taking a 30-16 rebounding edge into the halftime locker room with 12 coming on the offensive end. Mallette scored 15 points off the bench, but it was an offensive rebound that sparked the senior's night.

Mallette skied for an offensive rebound at 15:32 in the first half that resulted in a missed 3-point shot, but Taylor Bol Bowen was next to attack the glass for a second offensive rebound on the same possession. The ball ended up finding Mallette on the wing who stepped into and stroked his first of five 3-point makes on the evening.

"I mean, we play this thing called the possession game," Mallette said. "It's one of our main things. Coach Oats probably talked about it. We just want to get more possessions, because we've got the shot geography figured out. If we get more possessions than the other team, we'll be in pretty good shape to win that game. So with that being said, just being out there and just playing with reckless abandon. I tell these guys all the time, I play basketball the way I live my life, and that's with passion, and I think these guys do as well. We just came out there and competed to the best of our ability. And rebounding is a big thing, especially in our next game. I know that will be a huge point of emphasis. But also, we knew their guards were playing heavy, heavy minutes. And so just crashing and playing fast were two big points of emphasis for us."

Alabama's rebounding first half rebounding advantage allowed the Crimson Tide to generate eight more attempts from the field and helped them knock down 11 first half 3-pointers to take a 24-point lead into the break. Oats complimented his players effort after the win as rebounding has been a struggle throughout the season.

"When LaBaron rebounds, our offensive numbers are ridiculously high," Oats said. "Because he's pushing it, they can't stop him. I think it's when they get -- Wrightsell has four, Baron has six, all in the first half when we started to build the leadup. Houston has eight, plays super hard, five O boards. His effort, I love that kid, and I love this whole team. We've gone through all kinds of adversity. You heard Houston. He loves the guys. Coaches love our team. I love coaching these guys. But man, he plays hard, and he deserves to have a night like this, 5-of-7 from 3. I just kept telling him, 'You're about the right stuff. You worked too hard, you played too hard for this stuff not to get rewarded. It's going to get rewarded.' And it was rewarded tonight."

The Crimson Tide's rebounding effort pushed the program into its fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance as Alabama is one of just four SEC programs remaining in the NCAA Tournament. Alabama will face 1-seed Michigan in Chicago, making rebounding once again a major focus as the Maize and Blue are top 10 in the country in rebounding margin.

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