Alabama
Maryland
Top-Seeded Alabama Takes on No. 8 Maryland in Saturday’s NCAA Tournament Second Round
3/17/2023 3:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide and Terrapins will tip off at 8:40 p.m. CT inside Legacy Arena
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team will play its second round contest in the 2023 NCAA Tournament Saturday night as the overall No. 1 overall seed Crimson Tide will take on No. 8 seed Maryland. Tip time is set for 8:40 p.m. CT inside Legacy Arena and will be televised on TBS.
Alabama advanced to the second round matchup following its 96-75 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Thursday night. With the win, head coach Nate Oats is now 9-3 (.750) in 12 career postseason games at Alabama, including a 3-2 (.600) in NCAA Tournament contests.
Meanwhile, the Terrapins got past No. 9 seed West Virginia, 67-65, to advance to Saturday's matchup against top-ranked Alabama.
Saturday's matchup marks the second time in three years the two squads will square off in the second round of an NCAA Tournament. Alabama defeated Maryland (96-77) back in the 2021 event.
The Broadcast
Saturday's game is set for an 8:40 p.m. CT tipoff and will be aired on CBS with Jim Nantz (play-by-play), Bill Raftery (analyst), Grant Hill (analyst) and Tracy Wolfson (sideline reporter) on the call.
The radio broadcast can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network with Chris Stewart (play-by-play) and Bryan Passink (analyst) on the call, while Tom Stipe (engineer) is turning the dials. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.
Westwood One radio will also be airing the game with Brandon Gaudin (play-by-play) and Stephen Bardo (analyst) on the call.
Notes You Need To Know
- For the second time in three seasons, Alabama faces Maryland in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 (the Tide defeated the Terrapins, 96-77, in 2021)
- For the first time in program history, Alabama earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament
- The Crimson Tide is looking to make the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 for the second time under Nate Oats and ninth time in program history
- Head coach Nate Oats has a record of 9-3 (.750) in his 12 postseason games at the helm of the Crimson Tide
- This year marks the second time in three years that head coach Nate Oats has led Alabama at a No. 2 seed or higher in the tournament (No. 2 seed and Sweet 16 appearance in 2021)
- This is the third consecutive NCAA Tournament showing for UA in three years, the first time that's happened at UA in more than 30 years (1989-92)
- Out of the Tide's 35 contests, 19 games (13 teams) were played against teams that reached the NCAA Tournament with UA holding a 15-4 (.789) record in those contests
- Oats has a record of 3-2 in NCAA Tournament game as the head coach at Alabama and owns a 4-5 (.444) record across his five previous tournament appearances as a head coach
- Oats has guided his teams to NCAA Tournament appearances in six of the seven years the event was held during his coaching career, including each year as the Tide's head coach (tournament was cancelled in 2020 due to the worldwide pandemic)
- Alabama captured both the SEC regular season and tournament championships in the same year in two of the last three years, the first time that's happened in program history
- Alabama has won a program-record 30 wins this season, surpassing the 2001-02 team for most wins in a single season (27)
- Alabama's newcomers have scored 2,144 of UA's 2,794 points (76.7%) this season
About Maryland
- Kevin Willard becomes the first coach in Maryland history to lead his squad to the NCAA Tournament in his first season at the helm.
- Willard's first season at Maryland has had many notable firsts - The first coach to start 8-0 in his first season; The first coach to be nationally ranked in his first season; The first coach in Big Ten history to win first seven games by at least 15 points. Added to that is the first coach in Maryland history to reach 20 wins in their inaugural season as well.
- Maryland enters the tournament at No. 31 in the current NCAA NET rankings with three Quad 1 wins and six Quad 2 wins. The Terps currently have the third-best NET rating in the Big Ten. After the loss against Indiana, Maryland is now 5-2 against Big Ten teams ranked in the AP Top 25 as well.
- Maryland has a 44-28 record in the NCAA Tournament. The Terps have reached the Sweet Sixteen 14 times, the Elite Eight four times, the Final Four twice, and won the NCAA National Championship title in 2002.
- The NCAA Tournament bid marks Maryland's sixth appearance in the last seven applicable years. It would be the seventh appearance in eight years if the 2020 tournament had not been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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