CLEVELAND — Alabama was tormented on the offensive glass in its narrow 91-80 win over No. 15 seed Robert Morris in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. The Crimson Tide surrendered 16 offensive rebounds to an undersized Colonials team that out-scrapped and nearly upset No. 2 seed Alabama.
Veteran forward Grant Nelson had to be called upon to save Alabama. He dominated on both ends in seven minutes of action late in the second half. Mouhamed Dioubate also had a strong outing, grabbing 10 rebounds on the defensive end to help seal a Tide win.
But aside from the two forwards, Alabama looked lifeless on the glass. For a second straight game, it struggled to gain an edge on the boards. A similar effort also cost the Tide in a loss to Florida in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament.
“We’ve got to be better,” Oats said. “I’m going through circling everybody on the front court that had zero O-boards and I’ve got four guys that play the 4 and 5 for the most part that came up with a zero tonight. That’s not good enough. We’ve got to do better.”
The message to rebound wasn’t received against a Colonials team that, despite ranking No. 225 in the country in average height, according to KenPom.com, also ranked in the top 35 in offensive rebounding percentage. Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year Amarion Dickerson racked up 24 points and nine rebounds, including six on the offensive end Friday. That’s more than Alabama had as a team combined.
Alabama won’t be able to overcome another poor performance on the glass against its next opponent. The Tide faces No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s on Sunday. The Gaels play a distinct and contrasting style to Alabama, running one of the nation’s slowest offenses. They also live on the offensive glass, ranking No. 2 in the country in offensive rebound percentage, per KenPom.
Fortunately for Alabama, it has tended to fair well against teams that make it a point to crash the offensive glass. It has wins over Texas A&M and Houston, which rank No. 1 and No. 11 in offensive rebound percentage, respectively. Inconsistent play on the glass has cost a Tide team that still ranks as the best in the country at defensive rebounding.
Having Grant Nelson available for a full game will help. The fifth-year forward leads Alabama with 7.6 rebounds per game. Dioubate and Derrion Reid both had strong outings on the glass in the opening round, and their continued output will be key for the Tide to win a crucial area of the game against Saint Mary’s. Oats needs Alabama to be at its best on the defensive glass to establish its rapid tempo against a team looking to do the exact opposite of Alabama offensively.
“Shoot, we’ve got to box out,” Oats said. “We’ve got to go hit somebody when a shot goes up and go get it. That’s the stuff we’ve been stressing, and we’re more than capable of, when we’ve played some of the best rebounding teams in the country, Houston, Texas A&M, Mississippi State has been traditionally great on the glass, we’ve out-rebounded them.
“We keep saying it when we know we need to do it, we do it at a high level. We tried to stress we needed to do it tonight and we got out-rebounded by Robert Morris. These guys got to step up every game because if we continue to let this happen, we won’t be playing for too much longer."
The Tide gave itself a lifeline and a chance for a better performance in its second-round game. If Alabama can step up to the challenge, it will give itself a shot to reach the second weekend. If it doesn’t respond to a lackluster outing on the glass, the Gaels will pull off the win that Robert Morris nearly managed to steal Friday.
“We said coming into this tournament that we're going to welcome some adversity,” Oats said. “Hopefully, it's not self-inflicted. I thought tonight some of it was with the rebounds we gave up, but whether it's missed shots, whether it's referee calls, who cares what it is. If we face some adversity, let's welcome it, let's handle it with the right attitude.”
