LOS ANGELES — North Carolina stalled out late on Thursday night time, and Grant Nelson was there to take benefit.
Nelson completely dominated down the stretch, and got here up with an enormous block late, to steer Alabama to an enormous 89-87 upset win over top-seeded North Carolina on Thursday night time at Crypto.com Enviornment in Los Angeles. That formally despatched the Crimson Tide into their first Elite Eight since 2004.
The tempo within the first half was ridiculously fast. The 2 groups mixed for 100 factors and so they every shot higher than 50% from the sector within the first 20 minutes whereas happening stretches the place they only traded bucket after bucket.
However it was the final little bit of the half that North Carolina lastly pulled out in entrance. After a Rylan Griffen 3-pointer with about 3:30 left within the half, Alabama went chilly. The Crimson Tide managed only one made shot the remainder of the best way because the Tar Heels closed the half on an 11-2 burst to take an eight-point lead into the break. North Carolina made 10 3-pointers as a staff within the first 20 minutes, too, thanks largely to highly regarded capturing from Cormac Ryan — who made 4 of his first 5 makes an attempt from behind the arc.
Naturally, neither staff might sustain with that tempo. North Carolina missed its first 10 pictures of the second half, six of which have been taken from behind the arc, and so they didn’t hit a discipline purpose till Bacot powered in a layup almost 5 minutes into the interval. The Tar Heels went 2-of-18 from the sector to begin the half, and Bacot missed a large open two-handed dunk that left him flustered on the courtroom, which let Alabama proper again in it.
The Crimson Tide appeared poised to run away with the win late, too, after Nelson ripped off a solo 7-0 run capped with an enormous 3-pointer that despatched Hubert Davis speeding to name a timeout. However North Carolina responded with an 8-0 run of its personal to leap again out in entrance barely, earlier than Nelson powered via an and-one layup to take a two-point lead proper again.
North Carolina tried to reply, however then Nelson fully stuffed RJ Davis on the rim.
That led to a different turnover and ultimately pushed the Crimson Tide to the two-point win and their second ever Elite Eight look.
Nelson’s outing was big for Alabama, not solely as a result of he accounted for 12 of their final 14 factors within the win, however due to how poorly he performed within the Crimson Tide’s first two match video games. Nelson scored simply three factors in every of the primary two spherical wins and shot a mixed 1-of-7 from the sector. He completed with 24 factors and shot 6-of-9 from the sector towards the Tar Heels.
Aaron Estrada added 19 factors for the Crimson Tide within the win, and Griffen completed with 19 factors after capturing 5-of-8 from behind the arc. Sears added 18 factors.
Bacot led North Carolina with 19 factors and 12 rebounds within the loss, and Ryan completed with 17 factors. Davis completed with 16 factors and 7 assists, although he went 0-of-9 from the 3-point line.
Alabama will now tackle Clemson within the Elite Eight on Saturday. The Tigers shut down Caleb Love and upset No. 2 Arizona of their Candy 16 recreation earlier on Thursday night time, which despatched them into the Elite Eight for the primary time since 1980.