The 3-pointer: Takeaways from No. 4 Alabama's win over No. 12 Grand Canyon

During Alabama basketball’s 72-61 win over Grand Canyon, the Crimson Tide embraced the grittier side of the game.

Alabama regressed to its end-of-season struggles on offense, shooting just 36.9% from the field and 25.8% from 3, but showed outstanding effort and tenacity on the defensive end to battle with a physical Antelopes side. That put the Crimson Tide in a position to close the game with a 15-3 run.

It's a victory that showed a different side of Alabama basketball. The Crimson Tide played with and for each other through adversity, honed in its defense for 40 minutes and its star player took over to book Alabama’s spot in the Sweet 16.

Here are three takeaways from Alabama against Grand Canyon.

Scoring did not come easy Sunday’s contest. After it scored seven points in the opening few minutes, a lid seemed to cover Alabama’s rim and the it looked out of sorts at times on offense.

That made the Tide’s defensive effort all the more crucial against a physical Grand Canyon side. Alabama started just 6-for-22 from the field. But just as it did against Charleston on a run Friday, Alabama’s players’ heads didn’t drop when shots weren’t falling.

Alabama walled up and held serve with the Antelopes. Grand Canyon started 5-22 from the field and was held to just 0.833 points per possession and 12 points in the paint in the first half. Opportunities in the lane were precious on both ends, as both teams protected the rim well. Alabama finished the game with nine blocked shots, even as it shot just 11-for-26 on layup attempts on offense.

"[The arena] got loud when they got the lead and then out guys just hung in there and got stops," Alabama coach Nate Oats said. "Just the whole attitude of we gotta get a stop and move to the next play was big."

The Tide refused to relent on the defensive end. It hounded Grand Canyon beyond the perimeter. It prevented the Antelopes from making a field goal for a 2:49 stretch in the second half and forced 14 Antelopes turnovers. Though it battled through foul trouble all game — and two technical calls in the first half — the Crimson Tide stayed locked in, which allowed its offense to take over and seal a win with a 10-0 kill shot run in the final four minutes. The Antelopes scored just 0.859 points per position and only had one player finish in double figures.

With both teams off their respective rhythms on offense, the defensive intensity ratcheted up over the course of the game. While Alabama was ready for a rock fight, so too were Antelopes, who leaned on their ability to get to the free throw line to stay in the game.

The intensity seemed to overwhelm Alabama on two occasions, as the Tide was called for a pair of technical fouls in the first half. The first came after Oats argued with a no-call on an Aaron Estrada layup attempt, and the second came after forward Nick Pringle shattered a clipboard on the floor when he was on the bench.

Alabama committed 12 team fouls and the Antelopes attempted 18 free throws in the first half. Grand Canyon missed eight of those shots, however, which was the difference in the first half with Alabama leading 38-30.

Though Oats and the Tide lost their cool on two occasions, they seemed to feed off of calls they felt were incorrect and continued to defend despite a being limited on offense.

To break through that defense, however, Grand Canyon relied more on its ability to get to the line. Antelopes leading scorer Tyon Grant-Foster drove hard to the paint and draw fouls. The Crimson Tide put Grand Canyon in the bonus with 13:46 left in the game.

The Antelopes attacked the rim relentlessly with the game on the line. Grant-Foster finished with 29 points and gained more confidence from the charity stripe as the game went on. He shot 9-for-16 from the line. Alabama's fouls added up and made it more difficult for the Crimson Tide to pull away.

"We've got to do a better job not fouling jump shooters," Oats said [Mark] Sears fouled a jump shooter. They got eight free throws off jump shooters and four off T's. Don't foul jump shooters, don't do stupid things to get T's and take those 12 away and it's pretty even. So, they were physical, we were physical, if it had been 25-22 nobody would be talking about it. We got to do a better job not putting them to the line on plays that we shouldn't be putting them on the line, like three-point shots and jumpers."

The Antelopes misses, however, helped Alabama escape with a victory. Grand Canyon failed to convert six free throws in the second half. Alabama also cleaned up its defense in the home stretch did not commit a foul during it's 10-0 stretch in the final four minutes.

"We fouled too much," Oats said. "They shot 37 free throws. We obviously benefited from them not shooting it great at the line but when we didn't foul we got pretty good stops."

Throughout Sunday’s slugfest, Sears was his usual self on the biggest stage. He finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds, providing offensive production in a game where consistency on that end of the floor was at a premium for both teams. He drilled a crucial 3 to put Alabama up 55-50. He crashed the glass to help prevent Grand Canyon from adding to its 15 offensive rebounds and once again showed why he deserved every once of his second-team All-American honors.

After Latrell Wrightsell Jr. was knocked out of the game with a head injury in the first half, Sears needed a running mate to help carry the load offensively.

In the first half, that running mate was Rylan Griffen, who matched Sears’ 13 first half points. He shot 4-for-7 from the field and drilled a pair of 3s and finished with a plus-12 box plus/minus rating.

For most of the second half, no one besides Sears found any offensive rhythm, until Mouhamed Dioubate went on a tear in crunch time. Dioubate thrived in a physical battle and finished with nine points, all of which came in the final 5:21 minutes of the game.

"I was just playing hard and I got lost in the game," Dioubate said. "I wasn't thinking about scoring. I just let the game come to me. Coach put me in with a few minutes left in the game because Jarin [Stevenson] fouled out, and I just tried to play as hard as I can and let my defense contribute to offense. And that's what I did."

Dioubate also added five rebounds — all on the offensive end — to cap off yet another strong performance in the NCAA Tournament. He had six points and four rebounds in Alabama's first round win over Charleston. Both performances are made all the more impressive by the fact that the freshman forward is fasting for Ramadan, essentially playing both games on an empty stomach.

"He's just a tough player," Oats said. "He's never afraid of the moment. He just does the dirty work all year. I'm super happy that he was able to come in and really help close this thing out for us."

Alabama will travel to Los Angeles for a date with North Carolina in the Sweet 16 on Thursday. The Tar Heels defeated Wagner and Michigan State in the opening rounds. The game is expected to tip following the conclusion of the Clemson-Arizona game, which tips off at 6:09 p.m. CT. Both games can be seen on CBS.