NCAA Tournament Live Updates from No. 4 Alabama vs. No. 1 Michigan in Sweet 16

CHICAGO–– Alabama basketball is back in the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight season under head coach Nate Oats. The 4-seed Crimson Tide will take on 1-seed Michigan from the United Center in Chicago.

Both teams are coming off of 20-plus point wins in the Round of 32.

Tipoff is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. on TBS and TruTV, but BamaCentral will provide updates throughout.

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Live Updates

(latest updates at the top)

FINAL: Michigan 90, Alabama 77

This is just the fifth time all season that the Crimson Tide was held below 80 points

Second Half

Philon ties his career high with 35 points.

Alabama offense is taking too long on possessions and not getting good shots off. This game is all but over, and so is the season for the Crimson Tide. Michigan leads 88-74 with one minute left.

2:22- Michigan 86, Alabama 74- Michigan calls a 30-second timeout.

Philon is up to 32 points. He just hasn't gotten enough help on offense, especially without Aden Holloway available.

3:37- Michigan 84, Alabama 72- It's do or die time for Alabama. It's gonna take one of the best comebacks in NCAA tournament history if the Crimson Tide wants to keep its season alive.

Michigan's Cadeau answers with a 3 on the other end, and that probably just about does it for the Wolverines, up 84-70

Philon hits another 3 for Alabama to cut it to 81-70 with 4:30 to go. That gives him 30 points.

Oats urges his players on to get a stop with the Tide trailing 79-67 with just under five minutes to go.

6:13- Alabama's Amari Allen picks up his fourth foul. He's really the only Tide player in foul trouble.

An offensive rebound dunk from Mara ends Alabama's mini run and pushes the Michigan lead back to 77-67

Philon hits a 3-pointer out of the timeout to cut it back down to single digits, 75-67 Michigan. 7-0 run for the Tide.

8:00- Michigan 75, Alabama 64- Tide has scored the last four points, but it is going to need a stronger run than that if it wants a chance of winning. Philon is up to 24 points.

9:21- Michigan has its largest lead of the game at 75-60. Tide is going to have to turn things around quickly to start making this deficit smaller

Alabama's gotten a couple stops in a row, but it can't convert it to points on the other end. Michigan has tied its largest lead at 73-60

11:48- Because of how long we went without a media timeout, it is already time for the under-12 timeout. Alabama got a stop on defense during those 21 seconds, and it will be Crimson Tide basketball after the commerical break.

12:09- Michigan 70, Alabama 60- This half has been all Michigan so far. The Wolverines opened the second half on a 23-8 run. Still plenty of time left in this game, but Alabama is going to have to start stringing together some stops and start getting Philon some offensive help.

Wrightsell hits a 3-pointer to cut it to 70-60.

Just like that, the Michigan lead is up to 70-57. This one's starting to get away from the Tide.

13:20- Michigan has a double-digit lead for the first time today at 67-57

Philon answers with a big 3-pointer for the Tide to cut it to 60-54

15:30- Michigan has its largest lead at 60-51

16:45- Gayle Jr. picks up his third foul for Michigan. He has 8 points.

17:04- Michigan 54, Alabama 51- Oats calls timeout after the Wolverines have opened the second half on a 7-2 run. A rare Oats timeout to stop a run, so he really must not like what he's seen so far coming out of the break.

Allen makes a bad inbounds pass that's intercepted by Lendeborg. It leads to a transition dunk for Burnett's first basket of the game.

Lendeborg scores the first five points of the half for Michigan to go up 52-49.

Alabama doesn't score on its opening possession, and Lendeborg hits a 3 on Michigan's first to go up 50-49, ending the Wolverines scoring drought.

HALFTIME: Alabama 49, Michigan 47

Very entertaining half of basketball.
Labaron Philon Jr. took over for Alabama late in the first half. He leads all scorers with 19 points. Philon also leads the team with five rebounds.
Michigan has a slight 21-20 edge on the glass, but Alabama has done a good job limiting second-chance opportunities. The Wolverines have five offensive rebounds but just two second-chance points.
Michigan is shooting 53 percent from beyond the arc, but Alabama has made one more 3-pointer than the Wolverines.
Yaxel Lendeborg and Trey McKenney have 12 points apiece for Michigan.
Michigan missed its last five field goals of the first half.
Former Alabama player Nimari Burnett had zero points in the first half for Michigan.

"It's personal. I don't want it to be my last game...

I'm pretty sure a lot more people are gonna be watching this game."@AlabamaMBB's Labaron Philon w/ our @EvanWashburn at the half pic.twitter.com/st5sGmqY0T
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 28, 2026

First Half

Alabama gets a stop, and Philon is fouled on the other end. He makes both free throws with 6.6 seconds left to put Alabama up 49-47. Personal 8-0 run for Philon to give Alabama the halftime lead.

Oats appeared to be frustrated at how long it took Alabama to get that shot off. I think he wanted to try and go two-for-one at the end of the half. I think he'll be though with Philon scoring, especially if the defense can get a stop here.

Philon has scored six straight points for Alabama to tie the game up at 47-47. Nate Oats takes his use-it-or-lose-it timeout with 31 seconds left.

1:27- Lendeborg picks up his second foul. Philon makes both free throws for Alabama to cut the deficit to 47-43

Meanwhile, Alabama has gone cold from deep, missing seven of its last eight shots from beyond the arc.

"Let's Go Blue" chants have broken out in the United Center.

Michigan has now made three 3-pointers in a row, and the Wolverines have their largest lead at 46=41

But Alabama has an answer. Wrightsell hits a deep shot to go up 41-40

Gayle hits a 3 for Michigan to go up 40-38, and this is the loudest the Michigan crowd has been all game.

3:54- Alabama 38, Michigan 37- Oats always emphasizes strong final four of the first half and opening four of the second half. We'll see what Alabama still has in the tank to close out this half.

Jalil Bethea checks in for the first time following the media timeout.

5:02- Alabama 38, Michigan 33- We've got a great game here in Chicago featuring two of the best players in college basketball.

AGAIN, Philon has an answer. He hits his third 3-pointer to push the Alabama lead back up to 36-31

Cadeua gets left wide open from beyond the arc, and he makes Alabama pay.

Philon answers again on the other end to make it 25-22 Alabama with 9:44 to go in the first half

Lendeborg is the first scorer to reach double digits as his latest 3-pointer ties the game at 22-22 for Michigan.

10:59- Alabama 18, Michigan 17- A much more tightly-contested four-minute stretch than the opening frame. The Wolverines are starting to hit some shots from beyond the arc, but Alabama is still playing good defense.

Michigan hits a 3 on one end, and Philon answers on the other to reclaim the lead at 18-17 for Alabama

A 3-pointer from Trey McKenney gives Michigan its first lead at 14-13

Wrightsell ends a 9-0 run for Michigan with a floater to re-take the lead at 13-11

Lendeborg has five straight points for the Wolverines, and Alabama's lead is down to 11-9

Yaxel Lendeborg nails a 3-pointer for Michigan coming out of the timeout to cut the Alabama lead to 11-7

Noah Williamson, Houston Mallette and Taylor Bol Bowen check in for Alabama after the first media timeout.

15:38- Alabama 11, Michigan 4- Great start for Alabama. Exactly what Oats wanted: strong defense and rebounding. Alabama has a 7-3 edge on the glass. It also helps that the Tide has been making its early 3s.

Sherrell is fired up after hitting his second 3-pointer in the early going. Alabama leads 11-2 with 16:00 to go

Alabama already has three offensive rebounds. The latest leads to a 3-pointer from Latrell Wrightsell Jr. that puts the Tide up 6-2.

Aiden Sherrell rims around a 3-pointer for the first basket of the game, and the Tide leads 3-0.

After review, it did hit the rim, and Alabama will have 20 seconds on the shotclock.

Just 43 seconds into this game, and we already have a review. Officials are checking out the shotclock to see if Amari Allen's shot hit the rim.

Michigan wins the opening tip, and this game is underway.

Starting lineups

Pregame

Former Alabama player Nimari Burnett leads the Wolverines out onto the floor.

Same starting lineups for Alabama as the previous two NCAA tournament games.

Nate Oats is from Wisconsin and has a lot of family in the crowd, including his father. He went up in the stands to talk to him before the game.

As expected, there's a lot more blue in the arena than crimson.

According to the Crimson Tide Sports Network, there is a TV truck problem here with CBS, and the game might start now closer to 6:50 p.m.

Because Alabama is the lower-seeded team, Alabama will be wearing its Crimson uniforms for the first time this tournament.

Keitenn Bristow is back with the team during warmups. He was no seen during the open practice on Thursday.

Alabama arrived to the arena a little after 5 p.m.

Alabama basketball enters the United Center ahead of tonight’s game against 1-seed Michigan.

Guard Aden Holloway was not with the team pic.twitter.com/eZsOWdqadQ
— Joe Gaither (@JoeGaither6) March 27, 2026

Alabama will be without Aden Holloway for the third straight game following his arrest for marijuana possession.

How to Watch: 2026 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16

Who: Midwest 4-seed Alabama (25-9 overall, 13-5 SEC; 0-1 SEC Tournament, 2-0 NCAA Tournament) vs. Midwest 1-seed Michigan (33-3 overall, 19-1 Big Ten; 2-1 Big Ten Tournament, 2-0 NCAA Tournament)

When: Friday, March 27, 6:35 p.m. CT

Where: United Center, Chicago, Illinois

TV: TBS/TruTV

Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart, Color: Bryan Passink). The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.

Broadcast Crew: Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas and Evan Washburn

SiriusXM: 202

Series: Alabama leads 1-0, with the lone matchup occurring on Nov. 29, 2009.

Last Meeting: The Crimson Tide outlasted the Wolverines 68-66 at Lake Buena Vista, Florida. JaMychal Green shined with 20 points, seven rebounds and four blocks. He slammed the go-ahead dunk with five seconds remaining. Mikhail Torrance was everywhere with 11 points, six rebounds, eight assists and a pair of steals.

Last time out, Alabama: The Crimson Tide obliterated 5-seed Texas Tech 90-65 in the Round of 32 on March 22 in Tampa, Florida. Alabama started strong on both ends of the floor with a 49-25 halftime lead, and it was more than enough to get the job done. It was the largest scoring margin between a 4 and 5 seed in NCAA Tournament history, as Latrell Wrightsell Jr. led the way with 24 points.

Last time out, Michigan: The Wolverines cruised past 9-seed Saint Louis 95-72 in the Round of 32 on March 21 in Buffalo, New York. All five of Michigan's starters finished with 10-plus points, including a team-high 25 on 9 of 13 from the field (3 of 5 from deep) from Unanimous First Team All-American Yaxel Lendeborg.

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