Alabama
25-12,13-5SEC
UConn
36-3,18-2Big East
Alabama Falls to UConn in NCAA Final Four, 86-72
4/7/2024 12:41:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide’s historic 2023-24 season comes to an end in the national semifinals
PHOENIX – The No. 4 seed Alabama men's basketball team fell to defending national champion and top overall seed UConn, 86-72, in the 2024 NCAA Men's Final Four Saturday night inside State Farm Stadium.
Mark Sears led three Crimson Tide players in double figures with 24 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Grant Nelson had a season-best 15 rebounds to go along with 19 points to earn his fourth double-double of the season and second in the NCAA Tournament. Aaron Estrada added 13 points, three rebounds and three assists in the loss.
UConn (36-3) was led by Stephon Castle who finished with 21 points, while Donovan Clingan scored 18 and Tristen Newton had 12 points and nine assists in the win.
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"First, just want to thank our guys for getting this school to a Final Four for the first time in school history. We had an unbelievable run. I can't say enough about the leadership of these guys, particularly in the last few weeks.
"Unfortunate that it ended tonight, but we played arguably the best team in the country. I mean, UConn is top five in offense and defense. It showed tonight. I thought our guys did a good job staying in there, not giving up big runs. After we tied it there in the second half, I think they went on an 8-0 run after that, if remember that, it was pretty quick.
"UConn is great. It's going to be a great matchup Monday night. Our guys were really good from this stretch in the NCAA tournament. We just came up a little short tonight, but we came up short against a great team."
TEAM STATS
- Alabama finished the season with a 25-12 overall record and reached the program's second-ever Elite Eight (2004) and first Final Four
- The 25 wins is tied for seventh-most while the 37 total games are tied for the most in a single season
- Sears finished the year with 797 points and 26 games of scoring at least 20 points – both season school records
- For the first time this season, Alabama failed to score any fast break points
- Grant Nelson finished with 15 rebounds in the game while the rest of the team combined for 14 total boards
- Head coach Nate Oats is now 8-4 (.750) in 12 career NCAA Tournament games at Alabama, which includes three Sweet 16 appearances along with this year's Final Four
FIRST HALF
- The opening 20 minutes proved to be a close affair as both teams held multiple leads with neither team leading by more than seven points
- The two teams were tied five teams and had seven lead changes in the opening stanza
- The Huskies went 11-14 from the foul line compared to 4-5 foul shooting for the Tide
- The only run of the half came from UConn when it went on a 12-4 spurt that turned a 31-30 Alabama lead into a 42-35 advantage for the Huskies with 1:15 left to play
- Mark Sears hit all five of his shots to lead UA with 11 points, three rebounds and two assists
SECOND HALF
- The second stanza began with UConn and Alabama alternating four consecutive runs of 7-0, the final one of which gave the Huskies a 64-56 lead with 10:15 remaining
- The Crimson Tide continued to battle, cutting the lead to six on several occasions
- Alabama went without a field goal for a crucial five-plus minute stretch (8:02-2:54) that allowed the Huskies to extend its lead to double figures for the first time in the contest
- After shooting a blistering 8-11 (73 percent) from deep in the opening half, the Tide finished the game going 3-12 (25 percent) from beyond the arc over the final 20 minutes
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