The No. 1 overall seed in the 2023 men’s NCAA tournament has fallen, as Alabama shockingly lost in the Sweet 16 on Friday to No. 5-seed San Diego State, 71–64.
The Aztecs, led by coach Brian Dutcher in his sixth season, turned in a physical performance to eliminate the Crimson Tide, and become the first Mountain West team in history to advance to the Elite Eight. Prior to Friday, the Mountain West had gone 0–6 in the Sweet 16.
SDSU took a 28–23 lead into halftime, but appeared in danger of squandering the upset when Alabama surged to a nine-point lead, 48–39, with 11:39 to play. The Aztecs jumped back out in front with a 12-0 run to take a 51-48 lead with 8:39 left and held a narrow lead for most of the remainder of the game.
After trailing for much of the contest, the Tide made things interesting late, cutting the Aztecs’ lead to 66–64 with 47 seconds in regulation. Fortunately for SDSU, a pair of free throws by guard Matt Bradley with 45 seconds to play proved to be the deciding edge in the contest.
Senior guard Darrion Trammell led SDSU with 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field, and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. The Aztecs finished the game shooting 26-of-69 from the field, and 6-of-17 from long range.
Meanwhile, Alabama and coach Nate Oats will bow out of the South Region after logging their lowest-scoring effort of the season. Junior guard Mark Sears and senior guard Javon Quinerly turned in 16 and 10 points, respectively, on a combined 8-of-24 from the field. Star freshman and SEC Player of the Year Brandon Miller was held to nine points on 3-of-19 shooting (including 1-of-10 from three-point range). As a team, Alabama shot 23-of-71 from the field and 3-of-27 from three.
With Friday’s upset in the books, SDSU will now move to face No. 6-seed Creighton, an 86-75 winner over No. 15-seed Princeton, at 2:20 p.m. ET Sunday.
