No. 8 Alabama will look to ride a stellar offensive performance into Wednesday night’s Players Era men’s tournament consolation game against Maryland in Las Vegas.
Aden Holloway scored 26 points to lead six Crimson Tide players in double figures in a 115-76 rout of UNLV on Tuesday. The point total was the most for Alabama under Nate Oats, who is in his seventh year as the team’s head coach.
Houston Mallette had 19 points and three steals for the Crimson Tide (4-2), and London Jemison came off the bench to collect 18 points and five rebounds. Labaron Philon Jr. (13 points), Amari Allen (13) and Taylor Bol Bowen (12) were the other double-figure scorers for Alabama.
Alabama shot 55.4%t from the field, including a 14 of 33 from 3-point range. The Crimson Tide also made 29 of 35 free-throw attempts. Nine of the 11 players for Alabama attempted at least two free throws.
Despite the effective shooting against UNLV, Oats said “the rebounding was where I was most happy.”
Alabama outrebounded the Runnin’ Rebels 48-28.
“Our frontcourt was significantly better than it has been,” said Oats, who noted a season-high six rebounds for Noah Williamson.
In a 95-85 loss to No. 12 Gonzaga on Monday, the Crimson Tide were outrebounded 48-36. They shot 46.3% from the field while making only 9 of 29 shots from beyond the arc. They were 14 of 23 from the foul line.
Maryland (5-2), meanwhile, is coming off a 100-61 loss to Gonzaga on Tuesday. The Terrapins committed 18 turnovers and were outrebounded 39-29, and they made 36.4% of their shots from the field, including 5 of 21 from 3-point range.
“How we go about the response is probably more important than the outcome of this game,” Maryland coach Buzz Williams said. “How will we respond 24 hours later? We were exposed on multiple levels, and that’s the ownership we have to have.”
Pharrel Payne led Maryland with 14 points, and Darius Adams had 13 and Andre Mills 11. The defense allowed Gonzaga to record 30 assists on 37 made field goals. The Bulldogs shot 57.8% from the field and was 14 of 33 from beyond the arc.
Williams noted after beating UNLV 74-67 on Monday despite 20 turnovers that the Terrapins would allow Gonzaga to score “100 points in the first half if we turn it over 15 times in the first half.”
Maryland gave up 100 points in the entire game with 18 turnovers that led to 32 points for the Bulldogs.
Alabama did not generate an abundance of points off UNLV’s 10 turnovers on Tuesday, finishing with 15 points in that category. The Crimson Tide pushed the pace regardless if there was a turnover or not. They had 16 points in transition compared with only four for the Rebels.
Alabama went 2-2 in four straight games against ranked opponents — wins over St. John’s and Illinois and losses to Purdue and Gonzaga — before facing unranked UNLV. Maryland also is unranked.
The Crimson Tide won the last matchup 73-51 in an NCAA Tournament second-round game in 2023.
