Alabama’s season came to a crashing halt Friday as the No. 1 Crimson Tide fell to No. 5 seed San Diego State 71-64 in the Sweet 16.
San Diego State advances to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history while Alabama’s Sweet 16 woes continue, now with a 1-8 program record in the Sweet 16.
The first ever meeting between the two programs was projected to be a defensive slugfest and that’s exactly what transpired.
San Diego State clamped down on defense in the first half limiting the Crimson Tide to just 23 points while shooting a meager 28 percent from the floor and just 1-for-11 from behind the arc. Alabama actually finished the first half with more personal fouls, nine, than it did field goals, eight. Two of those nine personal fouls in the first half were committed by Brandon Miller which led to him spending half of the first 20 minutes on the bench scoring only four first half points on 2-for-9 shooting.
The San Diego State defense bothered the Alabama offense all night, especially Brandon Miller. Miller was held to just nine points shooting 1-for-10 from behind the arc and 3-for-19 from the field. Not only was Miller’s shooting bothered by the smothering defense of San Diego State, he also turned the ball over six times as well.
Alabama struggled from behind the arc all game, going 3-for-27 and shooting just 11 percent. Like they have done all year, even if shots aren’t falling they kept firing them up. Most of the time they shoot themselves out of a slump, but against the Aztecs it never happened.
Even when they passed up the three pointers and decided to drive to the rim they couldn’t convert inside either. The length and physicality of San Diego State affected the Alabama offense on the inside as they went 16-for-32 on dunks and layups with the Aztecs tallying eight blocks on the game.
Alabama has had bad shooting games from behind the arc before and been able to find other ways to win by scoring inside, or by shooting themselves out of it, but Friday night they weren’t able to do either. San Diego State put an end to Alabama’s season and ruined what is most likely the last game of Brandon Miller’s career at Alabama.
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