LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It is the KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville, with an exclamation point.
San Diego State is going to the Elite Eight.
Exclamation point.
The Aztecs have gone where no basketball team has gone before, beating No. 1 overall seed Alabama, 71-64, on Friday night to advance one game from the Final Four — against Creighton or Princeton — and the sport’s hallowed land.
Other firsts: The first time the Aztecs have defeated a higher seeded or ranked team in the NCAA Tournament after failing in their last nine attempts. And the first time a Mountain West team has gone past the Sweet 16.
All season, Aztecs players said they were planning on a deep run in March. Some even uttered Final Four, or national championship.
It was hard to take it as anything beyond youthful bravado, beyond shooting for the moon and maybe reach a star or two. But the coaches kept saying there was something special about this group, about their resilience and determination and mojo, just something different.
Then they barely celebrated on the floor and had no Gatorade showers in the locker room after last Saturday’s win against Furman put them into the school’s first Sweet 16 since 2014.
“We’re not done yet,” they said, one after another.
And they weren’t.
They played the perfect game against the favored Crimson Tide, slowing the pace, mucking it up, clogging the paint to deter drives, grabbing rebounds, frustrating a team that rolled through the SEC tournament by an average of 17 points and then won its first two NCAA Tournament games by 21 and 22 points.
The Aztecs hung around, hung around, hung around, refusing to go away, even when the Crimson Tide took a nine-point lead midway through the second half.
Darrion Trammell brought them back with his best game as an Aztec, 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting and only one turnover in 30 minutes against Alabama’s relentless pressure. The defense took care of the rest, holding Alabama to 32.4% shooting overall and 3 of 27 (you read that right, 3 of 27) behind the 3-point arc.
Brandon Miller, the SEC player of the year and a projected top-five NBA draft pick, had nine points on 3-of-19 shooting. Jahvon Quinerly was 4 of 13. Noah Clowney was 1 of 6 and fouled out. Rylan Griffen was 1 of 7.
On and on it went down the box score.
The Aztecs went from nine down with 11:31 left to nine up inside three minutes to go.
It had an eerie ring to it. A year ago, in their opening NCAA Tournament game against Creighton, they were nine up inside three minutes to go in regulation … and lost in overtime.
The wheels on the bandwagon wobbled, as Alabama drew within seven and then four and then two with 50 seconds left. But Matt Bradley was fouled and, after missing two late free throws against Creighton, calmly made both this time.
Micah Parrish made his as well, and soon Parrish had the ball and the final buzzer was sounding and the players were pouring off the bench to jump on him and he was playfully running away from them.
Elite.
Eight.
Alabama 7-footer Charles Bediako won the opening tip, and the Crimson Tide quickly found the 6-10 Clowney on the 6-4 Bradley on a screen and roll for an easy basket, foul and 3-point play. It took 11 seconds.
The Aztecs went to the other end, and Bradley got a free-throw line jumper and missed.
That might have been the best thing that could have happened to the Aztecs, at least in the human nature department. The Crimson Tide, no doubt, figured this was gonna be easy.
It wasn’t.
The rest of the first half, well, it couldn’t have gone any better.
Alabama struggling to make 3s … check.
Miller in early foul trouble … check.
Hanging on the boards … check.
Slow tempo … check.
Rock fight … check.
The Crimson Tide were clearly frustrated by SDSU’s physical pressure on the ball and players aligned in the gaps to deter drives. And when they kicked out for what appeared to be open 3s, defenders closed hard on them with high hands.
The result: 27.6% shooting overall in the first half, 1 of 11 behind the arc, seven turnovers, zero fast-break points.
The Aztecs weren’t have much more success scoring, shooting 32.4%, but at least they’re used to these sorts of ugly games. Play in them all the time. They led for 9:01 of the first half to 6:40 by the favorites.
The half turned with 5:17 left, Alabama up 19-16 and the pro-Tide crowd (Tuscaloosa is only six hours south by car) roaring after back-to-back baskets for the first time all game. Trammell missed a jumper, but Quinerly was whistled for a foul on the rebound. Then officials went to the video monitor and upgraded it to a flagrant foul.
Nathan Mensah made one of two free throws, and Adam Seiko hit a jumper on the ensuing possession to tie it. Another Alabama miss, another Seiko jumper, and the Aztecs had the lead.
That started a 12-4 run to end the half and give the Aztecs a 28-23 lead despite getting zero points from Lamont Butler and foul-plagued Bradley on a combined 0 of 7 shooting.
SDSU emerged early from the extended NCAA Tournament halftime (15 to 20 minutes), out there shooting for several minutes before the Crimson Tide came through the tunnel. Coach Nate Oats’ halftime speech, uh, lecture was that long.
You figured a young, inexperienced team that maybe took the Aztecs for granted would have renewed enthusiasm, and it did – revving up the level of offensive and defensive intensity to heretofore unseen levels.
Three minutes into the second half, it was 34-30, Tide.
SDSU’s first trip to the Sweet 16, in 2011, was marred by a controversial technical foul. This one was, too.
An Alabama defender crashed into Bradley as dove for a loose ball (and retrieved it). Bradley head hit the floor hard … and he was called for the foul.
Dutcher and his staff went ballistic and quickly were assessed a T. Miller made both free throws, and Noah Gurley — who nearly transferred to SDSU instead of Alabama — scored to push the margin to six. A few minutes later, it was 48-39 and Dutcher was calling timeout.
Game over?
Hardly. Trammell made a 3, then intercepted a pass and sailed in for an uncontested layup. Then he made a 3.
Then a Seiko 3 — 51-48, Aztecs.
At the next media timeout, the SDSU fans behind their bench began the “I believe that we will win” chant.
