Key Takeaways from Alabama's First Weekend of 2026 NCAA Tournament

Alabama basketball has officially reached its fourth straight Sweet 16!

After taking down 13-seed Hofstra 90-70 in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament, the 4-seed Crimson Tide followed it with a 90-65 win over 5-seed Texas Tech on Sunday night and will face 1-seed Michigan next Friday evening in Chicago.

There's so much to dissect from this past weekend in Tampa, as Alabama begins its initial prep for the Sweet 16. Here are five takeaways.

Mudita Overshadows Aden Holloway Buzz

There's no doubt about it, Alabama guard Aden Holloway's March 16 arrest and charges of first-degree possession of marijuana and failure to affix a tax stamp were not only the biggest headline for the Crimson Tide entering March Madness, but perhaps all of college basketball as well.

Head coach Nate Oats suspended his second-leading scorer in the most pivotal part of the season, and it'll stay that way until the investigation concludes. It's uncertain at this time if he'll be traveling with the team to Chicago, but Oats and company have stated that they "love" Holloway and continue to support him. The players even held up two fingers during the Texas Tech postgame interview, alluding to Holloway's jersey number.

At the end of the day, while Holloway is a tremendous key to Alabama's success, the Tide didn't have much of a problem without him. When combining the Hoftra and Texas Tech wins, UA shot 46 percent from the field and 39 percent from behind the arc. In fact, the Tide's 19 3-pointers against the Red Raiders are the third-most in NCAA Tournament history (Alabama owns the No. 1 spot with 25 against BYU in the 2025 Sweet 16).

And it all boils down to one thing.

"Our team has real Mudita," Alabama guard Houston Mallette said after the Texas Tech game. "We cheer for others' success, each other's success like it's our own success. You can see it with our team with our program I mean.

"We've dealt with probably more adversity than any of the other programs in the country this year. I think we've been really well equipped in not focusing what's happened to us but more so our response.

"I think the way we've responded time after time after time and the way we've prepared in practice - like our last week of practice was probably the best week of practice we've had. Our film numbers were the best they've been.

"We're doing all the right things, I think, and I think it's showing off. The big thing is we love each other. I told [Latrell Wrightsell] today, I love you, bro. I told everybody I don't want to leave Alabama. I will die for this school and this place. These guys love it as well. That's been our whole motto this year."

An 'Unbelievable' Defensive Game Plan

Alabama has had numerous issues throughout the season, and most of them fall under the umbrella of defense. The Crimson Tide may average the most points per game in the country (91.7), but it gives up the 12th-most points per game (83.1).

UA's defense was consistent against Hofstra, as the Pride scored 35 points in each half. The 70-point total is tied for Hofstra's ninth-lowest scoring output this season on 41 percent from the field.

Like numerous other games, Alabama took its foot off the pedal in the second half against Texas Tech. The Tide narrowly beat the Red Raiders 41-40 in the latter period after finishing the first up by a massive 49-25 margin. TTU's 65 total points were tied for its fourth-fewest scored and also Alabama's fourth-fewest allowed.

Regardless, this was a step in the right direction for Alabama, and the defense is stepping up at the right time. This was perhaps most evident from guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr.'s lockdown mentality when shadowing Texas Tech AP All-American Third Team member Christian Anderson, who finished with seven points on 2 of 11 from the field, including 1 of 7 from deep.

"I think with a really good guard like that you make it tough and put a body down each time and make him feel your physicality and presence there every time," Wrightsell said. "So that's what I tried to do, just disrupt his timing a little bit. But with a good guard like that, sometimes you just gotta pray for some misses too. I think I just did a pretty good job just getting into the ball.

"And I don't know it wasn't just all me, I think as a team, collectively, our guys, our big man Rale (phonetic) and Noah telling me coverages in the ball screens and stuff, they ran a lot of ball screens and helping me out from the backside of the coverages of what I need to do and then getting the ball and stuff like that.

"And then we also prepare really well. And our coaches gave me a really good game plan on how to guard and what we need to do. So that's what I really did. I just tried to make it as hard as possible on them and make it difficult and I'm glad it worked out."

That said, this was a part of a decision that wasn't fully made by Oats.

"I thought [defensive assistant Brian Adams] put together an unbelievable great game tonight," Oats said. "He works tirelessly. He's an NBA guy that's really fell in love with college. He's great. I love him. It's on me to get more effort, better buy-in from the guys on the defensive end."

Nate Oats Joins Elite Company

Alabama won its Sweet 16 matchup in style, as it was the largest scoring margin between a 4 and 5 seed in NCAA Tournament history!

Alabama is the only program in the country to reach the Elite Eight in each of the last two seasons, and an upset win over the Wolverines in the Midwest Regional semifinal would add another tally to that remarkable achievement.

This is Oats' fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance. The only other teams that have reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament that many times in a row are Houston and Tennessee.

"I've got the utmost respect for Rick [Barnes] and Kelvin [Sampson]," Oats said. "I think they're two of the best to ever do it. I'm not as good as them. I've got a long ways to go. Both their teams play better defense on a consistent basis. If I can get our guys to guard like both those two guys get their teams to guard, we'll be playing a long time this year. That's the goal.

"So that's a pretty good company to be in. We've done it a little different than those teams. Our offense is hard to guard...we'll play teams and nobody in the Big 12 really plays like we play."

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Threads and Blue Sky for the latest news.