Alabama basketball's Grant Nelson's honest admission about Crimson Tide being 'slept on'
03/23/2025 09:55 PM
No. 2 seed Alabama basketball is heading to the Sweet 16 for the third straight season after beating No. 7 seed St. Mary’s basketball 80-66 in the Round of 32 on Sunday.
The Crimson Tide had big man Grant Nelson, who has been dealing with a knee injury, on the floor during the game. Afterward, he explained why he feels the Tide has been overlooked during March Madness so far.
“I feel like we’ve been slept on. There’s a lot of people saying things about us, like we’re about to lose this game. So we knew we had to come out and bring energy,” On3’s Charlie Potter posted to X, formerly Twitter.
Nelson finished the game with 12 points, eight rebounds and two assists. He shot 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.
Alabama basketball will take on No. 6 seed BYU basketball in the Sweet 16 on Thursday in Newark, New Jersey. Tipoff time and television information are TBA.
Alabama basketball’s depth made a difference
One of Alabama basketball’s biggest strengths in its Round of 32 win over St. Mary’s basketball was its depth.
Head coach Nate Oats explained how important it was for the Crimson Tide to be able to wear down St. Mary’s because of their numbers advantage.
“Yeah, I thought we wore them out, particularly towards the end of the first half,” Oats said via Tide Illustrated. Like you said, they kind of play a seven-man rotation. Hardaway played just under two minutes, and then that was it for their eighth guy. So, seven guys played the bulk of the minutes. Saxen played over 39, Erik played almost 37, Marciulionis over 34, Ross over 34. So four of their starters were over 34 minutes.”
Oats believes Alabama is capable of making the Final Four for the second season in a row.
“Yeah, for sure,” Oats said. “We're definitely deeper with more guys available. I thought Derrion Reid was great on Friday. Didn't work out to play him as many minutes this game, but we have guys 10. I'm comfortable playing double-digit minutes. Grant Nelson was hurt. We got away without playing him hardly at all. Darrion was part of that, being able to not play Grant until about seven minutes to go in that game.”
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