Grant Nelson had seen enough. With No. 2 seed Alabama clinging to a 4-point lead with 8:47 left to play against No. 15 seed Robert Morris, the injured forward stood up on the bench and called over to Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats.
“Hey, put me in,” Nelson said. “We’ve got to go.”
Nelson, who injured his left knee during last weekend’s SEC Tournament was a game-time decision heading into Friday’s matchup between Alabama and Robert Morris in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. While Oats had hoped not to save his injured forward for the second round at the earliest, Nelson was made available on an “if-needed” basis.
And boy did Alabama need him.
Nelson recorded 5 points and three rebounds over seven minutes on the court, helping the Tide regain the momentum it needed to outlast Robert Morris 90-81.
“I trust him,” Oats said of his decision to sub Nelson into the game. “He shows up big in big games. He came in, we went on a run right away.”
Four seconds into the game, Nelson recorded a steal. After Robert Morris took its first lead of the game up 65-64 with 7:10 to play, it was Nelson who got on the end of an alley-oop from Aden Holloway to put the Tide back ahead. The graduate forward then provided a key offensive rebound to help the Tide extend its advantage to 5 points with 5:16 to go. From there, he recorded two more boards before slamming home a dunk to ice the game, putting Alabama up 81-71 with 2:13 remaining.
“The guys needed me, and I felt good to play,” Nelson told reporters in the locker room following the game. “It was getting pretty close at the end. So I got in and I feel like it worked out well.”
The display of grit wasn’t lost on his teammates.
“Grant, he’s a positive teammate,” Alabama forward Mo Dioubate said. “He always uplifts us. He’s one of the leaders, one of the seniors on the team. When things aren’t going well, Grant will speak up. That’s what we need on this team.”
Despite Nelson’s efforts, Alabama struggled on the boards losing the rebounding battle 39-37, including a 16-5 disadvantage in terms of offensive rebounds. The Tide will need to improve on that if it wants to get past the next round where it will face either No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s or No. 10 seed Vanderbilt.
Saint Mary’s leads the nation averaging a plus-10.7 rebounding margin per game. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt held a 17-9 advantage in offensive rebounds during its 103-87 loss at Alabama earlier this season.
Alabama will play the winner of Saint Mary’s versus Vanderbilt on Sunday in the second round of the tournament.
“We're going to have to get [Nelson] a bunch of rehab because we’re going to for sure need him no matter which team we play here,” Oats said. “They’ve got a much bigger frontcourt, whether it be Vandy or Saint Mary’s, or either one.”
