Alabama Basketball Turning a Corner in Birmingham Games

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— The Alabama men's basketball team has played its fair share of games at Legacy Arena, located a short distance from home base in Tuscaloosa and home to a great many Crimson Tide fans. That hasn't always translated to positive results like the dominant 101-56 triumph over Liberty on Saturday. 

For three consecutive years in the Avery Johnson era, the Crimson Tide lost the Vulcan Classic, including blowing a 12-point halftime lead to an Oregon team that boasted Dillon Brooks and Jordan Bell in 2015. Current head coach Nate Oats, who notched his 100th win at Alabama with Saturday's C.M. Newton Classic victory, has fared better in the Magic City than Johnson's teams did. 

"We played a mid-major at this event in Davidson [two] years ago," Oats said. "Didn't come out very well. Lost... We needed to get a quality win, and we're on a three-game winning streak in this building."

Thanks in part to Latrell Wrightsell Jr.'s 19-point performance (including five triples) and Aaron Estrada flirting with a triple-double, Saturday did not fall into that category. In many ways, the program's recent run of success has changed the narrative surrounding games in Birmingham. Even so, Alabama is still just 1-2 since the event became known as the C.M. Newton Classic, also dropping a 2022 game to Gonzaga in which Brandon Miller scored 36 points. The other wins came during the most important time of the season: March Madness, when the Crimson Tide was rewarded for being the top overall seed with two potential games inside Legacy Arena.

Alabama won both, over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Maryland, but eclipsed both performances by posting triple digits against the Flames. Saturday's game also had the largest single margin of victory, 45 points, in the ongoing three-game Birmingham winning streak. Oats is now 4-2 as the Crimson Tide head coach in the Magic City.

"If they could keep having the NCAA Tournament come down here, that'd be great," Oats said with a slight chuckle, "[and] try to play here as often as we can."