LOS ANGELES — Alabama gutted it out.

The Crimson Tide stepped up against one of the nation’s best and most experienced offenses. It showed much of the grit and determination it displayed against Grand Canyon and its best players stepped up massive in its 89-87 win over North Carolina.

Alabama showed no signs that it wanted its season to end. It matched North Carolina’s talent in the post with effort that it struggled to show for large portions of the season. The Crimson Tide buckled down, and punched its ticket back to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2004.

After the game, Mark Sears said the Crimson Tide will celebrate for about 30 minutes. Alabama wants more. It booked itself a rematch with Clemson. The Tigers defeated Alabama inside Coleman Coliseum earlier this season. Now, Alabama is looking for a revenge game that would also send it to its first Final Four in school history.

"We haven't done anything yet," Alabama coach Nate Oats said. It's great to be in the Sweet16, let's not take it for granted; there's only two SEC teams left in it. But we haven't done a thing yet. So let's not act like we've done anything yet.Now if we can beat Carolina, now we have done something. Now we're one win away from a Final Four, the first one in school history. I think these guys will be locked in."

Here are three takeaways from Alabama’s upset win over North Carolina.

When Alabama needed a bucket, Grant Nelson got it. When it needed a rebound, Nelson was ready on the glass. When it needed an and-1 finish with Alabama down by one in the game’s final minute, the North Dakota State transfer showed no fear.

After two mediocre performances in the Crimson Tide’s first two tournament games, Nelson exploded for 24 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks winning the battle in the paint against one of the country’s best forwards.

"It means everything," Nelson said. "Being from a small town in North Dakota I know those guys are all showing me love... It's just great coming from a loving community, having all that love behind me building me up, pushing me forward. it means the world to me."

The veteran forward was unafraid of the challenges Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram posed. He switched and communicated well on defense to prevent the pair from owning the paint. Offensively, he was able to draw fouls shooting 10-for-13 from the free throw line, including his made free throw after the and-1 to ice the game.

"Grant Nelson deserves to play well," Oats. "He works hard. He's been all about the right stuff all year. Even when he struggled he just stays with it, stays with it. I couldn't be happier for Grant.But did I expect 24, 12 and five? No. Would I have said I would be totally shocked? No, because I know he's capable of it. But, man, he showed up tonight."

Nelson was one of four Alabama starters who carried the Crimson Tide to a win. With the exception of strong first halves by Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Rylan Griffen in Alabama’s first two NCAA Tournament games, it was guard Mark Sears and Alabama’s bench that carried the Crimson Tide to victory.

Despite Wrightsell being out with a head injury, the rest of Alabama’s starting five stepped up alongside Sears to lift Alabama. The Crimson Tide got zero bench points in the first half and three of it’s five starters finished in double figures.

While Sears managed to log 18 points, it was his backcourt mate Griffen who outscored Sears in both periods. For every triple Tar Heels guard Cormac Ryan made in the first Griffen seemed to match. He finished with 19 points and five made 3s.

"I went through a little shooting slump [earlier in the season], Griffen said. "I got hurt so I had to come back from that, just get back in rhythm. But if I had to have a breakout shooting game again today would be the day."

In what could have been his final collegiate game, Aaron Estrada had his best scoring performance of the tournament so far. He also logged 19 points and was his usual stat-stuffing self elsewhere, adding four rebounds and three assists.

"I would be scared if I was the other teams that we have to play against," Estrada said. "Because all know that if we're all shooting good its going to be hard to stop us, and we've got our defense going now so if you're not scoring and everybody on our team is hitting its going to be a long night for whoever we play."

Alabama started the game going shot-for-shot with the Tar Heels. But an 8-0 run by North Carolina seemed to steal the game’s momentum by the under 16 media timeout. The Crimson Tide coughed the ball up four times in a span of 3:26, helping UNC go on an 8-0 run.

Just as it did when its offense hit a wall against Grand Canyon, the Crimson Tide stayed locked in to its defensive assignments and worked its way back into the game. Alabama opted to leave North Carolina guards open around the perimeter, preferring to sink into the paint and defend against Bacot.

For a second straight game, Alabama dialed in defensively. It wasn’t perfect against one of the nation’s best offenses. North Carolina was on fire from deep, making 10 of 16 3s in the first half. Tar Heels guard Elliot Cadeau made just eight total 3s heading into Thursday’s game, but buried two in the first half Thursday. Seth Trimble, who attempts just 0.9 3s per game also made two triples in the opening period.

"We had a game plan," Oats said. "You've got to give North Carolina credit. They're a very good team. They've played well all year. We had a game plan. Gotta give Cadeau and Trimble a lot of credit. We planned on leaving them open; they hit four 3s in the first half. We questioned whether to stay with it or not. We decided to stick with it. Those guys ended up not playing very many minutes, 13 between the two of them. I think the plan was right."

Alabama stayed locked in. Bacot and R.J. Davis combined to shoot just 12-for-38 from the field. Alabama's defensive effort culminated in a block from Nelson on during a late UNC possession as Alabama once again embraced its identity on that end of the floor.

"Our coaches, they came out with a great game plan," forward Nick Pringle said. "The guys that we were sagging off [of], they were hitting a couple shots early. But we knew that wasn't gonna last long, it still made their offense bad so they ended up sitting those guys. We were trapping Bacot, getting the ball out of his hands. We just made the most out of it. We stopped them, got a rebound, played in transition."

Alabama will face Clemson in the Elite Eight on Saturday. The Tigers took down Arizona 77-72 in the first game of the session Thursday. Clemson also defeated Alabama 85-77 earlier this season. The rematch for a spot in the Final Four is set for 7:49 CT Saturday in Los Angeles. The game can be seen on TBS/truTV.