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Grant Nelson With Blunt Response on Saint Mary's

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Nazario Pangallo | Last updated Mar 23, 2025 4:28 PM ET

On Friday afternoon, No. 2 seed Alabama closed out a rather pesky 15-seed in Robert Morris 90-81 to set up a Round of 32 matchup with No. 7 seed St. Mary's. The Sunday afternoon matchup will send its winner to Newark, New Jersey to face No. 6 seed BYU in the Sweet 16.

With Alabama's fast-paced offense on one side (No. 1 in tempo) and St. Mary's No. 360 in tempo on the other side, a clashing of styles is an understatement.

"They obviously play a lot slower than us," Crimson Tide forward Grant Nelson said. "So I feel like they're going to try and slow the game down, but I mean, we saw it yesterday at the beginning of the game when they played Vandy, where Vandy pushed, and they got off to a good start. So, we're obviously going to try and play our brand of basketball and push the pace on them."

Alabama will be playing with a chance to advance to the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row and fourth time in the last five years.

"It's way more easier to play fast when you're getting stops," Alabama guard Chris Youngblood said. "The key is focusing on getting stops and, you know, make sure we take care of the glass cause they're a great offensive rebounding team."

Against Robert Morris, Alabama was outrebounded 39-37 and allowed the Colonials to grab 16 offensive rebounds while the Tide nabbed just five. However, Nelson didn't play until less than 10 minutes were remaining in the game. The fifth-year senior was on a minutes restriction in that game but is expected to be let loose on Sunday.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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