Under Nate Oats, Alabama has become one of the NCAA Tournament's most reliable teams. In six years with Oats at the helm, the Crimson Tide have only missed the tournament once and has made it to the round of 16 four times, including this year. This season, Alabama's goal has been to build on the success of last year's tournament, which ended in a Final Four loss to eventual champion UConn. With Alabama sporting the country's most potent offense, the chances of the Crimson Tide making another run through the tournament are strong. But first, Alabama needs to get past BYU. Here are three keys for the Crimson Tide to take down the Cougars in this Sweet Sixteen matchup.
Dominate the offensive glass and maximize second-chance points
One of Alabama’s strengths this season has been rebounding. The Crimson Tide lead the country with 42.9 rebounds per game - 12.5 of those on the offensive glass. However, throughout the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, Alabama has only grabbed a total of 11 offensive rebounds. It’s important to note that Alabama has been super efficient thus far in the tournament, but less than half of its season average might not cut it against a high-scoring BYU offense. The Cougars only allow 9.4 offensive rebounds per game, and in a matchup between two elite offenses, second-chance points will likely decide the game. Alabama scores roughly 15 percent of its points on second-chance opportunities, and with BYU’s offense being good enough to go shot-for-shot with the Crimson Tide, the 13.4 second-chance points per game should be enough to push Alabama over the top.
Make threes
One key component of Alabama’s offense is taking and making a ton of threes. The Crimson Tide average 10.2 made threes per game and attempt 29.2 shots from deep - hitting 35 percent of their shots from behind the arc. While Alabama can score in many ways, the offense flows much better when the three-ball is falling consistently. Luckily for Alabama, BYU doesn’t defend the three well. On the season, the Cougars are allowing opponents to make 9.2 threes per game at 35 percent. This is right at Alabama’s averages. If the Crimson Tide can build on what BYU is going to give them, then things should be much easier offensively. Alabama can’t afford to have an off night against a bad BYU perimeter defense.
Play some defense
We all know that defense isn’t a strong part of Alabama’s game. There have been moments this season when the Crimson Tide have shown flashes that a capable defense is possible, but for the most part, Nate Oats’ crew is more than willing to win games by dominating offensively. Through the first two rounds of the tournament, Alabama hasn’t faced a team averaging more than 76 points per game, though that will change against BYU. The Cougars have one of the best offenses in the country, averaging more than 81 points per game.
And much like Alabama, a large portion of BYU’s offense comes from behind the arc. Nearly 48 percent of BYU’s shots come from deep, and the Cougars connect on those shots 37 percent of the time. Luckily, Alabama defends the three well. This season, the Crimson Tide are holding opponents to 30.5 percent from three. If Alabama can take away BYU’s best source of offense, then it should win the game with relative ease.