The NCAA tournament is about basketball but also so much more: the parents, fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The Sweet 16/Elite 8 are taking place in 4 cities around the country and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is covering all the angles so you can look forward to an abundance of access in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage from Los Angeles with a recap of Clemson-Alabama.
My final pregame concession voucher of the month came in handy for dinner: chicken sandwich/Diet Coke. Due to the Arizona/UNC media fleeing town yesterday, I was able to get a seat upgrade from the press box up high all the way down to the 2nd row!:
Brian Anderson/Jim Jackson are ready to call the game for TBS:
Both cheerleader squads are ready:
Both coaches are ready:
Let’s tip it off:
Clemson came out strong despite 4 turnovers in the 1st half from their star big man PJ Hall. His fellow frontcourt player Ian Schieffelin picked up the slack in the paint with a dunk, a pair of layups, and a pretty fadeaway jumper in the lane:
SR G Chase Hunter also knocked down a pair of jump shots and had a STL/layup/foul/&1 combo that helped his team build a 26-13 lead heading into the under-8 timeout:
As you might expect from the top-scoring offense in the nation, Alabama got back into the game via the 3-PT shot. FR F Jarin Stevenson went scoreless during his prior meeting with the Tigers last November, but apparently his “spot” is in the corner because he made a pair of threes from there en route to 10 PTS off the bench in the 1st half:
His teammate Rylan Griffen made two long-range shots of his own as the Tide came all the way back to take a 35-32 halftime lead:
Both teams looked a little nervous early on but they both regained their composure during halftime and put on a shooting clinic in the 2nd half. The 1st half stars kept doing what was working for them: Schieffelin kept scoring in the paint and finished with a double-double of 18 PTS/11 REB (although his 4-8 FTM was underwhelming), while Stevenson made a few more threes and ended up with an efficient 19 PTS in 25 minutes. The surprising star for Alabama was SR F Nick Pringle: he had a pedestrian 4 PTS/5 REB in the November game but made all 3 of his FG attempts after intermission while grabbing every rebound in sight and had his own double-double of 16 PTS/11 REB. The “surprising” part is that he has a very odd FT stroke and is usually terrible at the line (54.7% this season) but made a whopping 8-13 on Saturday (while the entire Clemson team made just 8-16 FTs):
Clemson refused to go away and got great contributions from several key players. Syracuse transfer Joe Girard did his damage from outside with 17 PTS in the 2nd stanza on 5-7 3PM:
His teammate RJ Godfrey punished Alabama in the paint with scoop after layup and finished with an efficient 12 PTS in 15 minutes:
It appeared that Hall was on the verge of leading the comeback with a huge dunk, a tough turnaround jump shot, and even a 3…but after he fouled out with 3:25 left the Tide had turned:
SR G Mark Sears somehow went SCORELESS during the 1st 16 minutes of the game, but he flipped the switch at halftime and went nuts with 6-7 3PM (including 1 from the logo!):
Due in large part to Sears’ game-high 23 PTS, Alabama beat Clemson 89-82 and is headed to Arizona for the 1st Final 4 in school history:
After the buzzer I went down to the court to take a bunch of photos of the postgame celebration, check back tomorrow for the best of the bunch.