CLEVELAND, Ohio – The No. 2 seed Alabama men’s basketball team avoided an upset and took down No. 15 seed Robert Morris, 90-81, in the 2025 NCAA Tournament First Round contest on Friday at Rocket Arena.
With the win, UA advances to the second round where it will square off against No. 7 seed St. Mary’s on Sunday. Time and television designation will be announced later Friday night.
Mark Sears led the Crimson Tide (26-8) with 22 points to go along with 10 assists for his third double-double of the season, leading three UA players in double figures. Mohamed Dioubate finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds off the bench while Clifford Omoruyi added 17 points on a perfect 8-of-8 from the field.
Robet Morris (26-9) was led by Amerion Dickerson’s 25 points and three steals in the losing effort.
Head Coach Nate Oats
Postgame Comments
“I thought Robert Morris played hard. They’re a good team. Their effort was great. They ended up with 16 offensive rebounds. We only had five. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. We knew they’d play tough. We shot a little higher percentage, there was more offensive boards for them to get, but we didn’t do a good enough job keeping them off the glass. You look at a kid like (Amarion) Dickerson, he had more offensive rebounds than our entire team combined.
“I’m a little disappointed in our offensive rebounding, but I’ll say this, our guys were resilient. We said coming into this tournament that we’re going to welcome some adversity. Hopefully, it’s not self-inflicted. I thought tonight some of it was with the rebounds we gave up, but whether it’s missed shots, whether it’s referee calls, who cares what it is. If we face some adversity, let’s welcome it, let’s handle it with the right attitude.”
Team Stats
- Alabama won its opening round game for the fourth time in five appearances under Nate Oats
- Mark Sears collected NCAA Tournament career high with 10 assists on the day, including 19 points and six assists along in the second half
- Grant Nelson made a positive impact in limited minutes during the night, finishing with five points and three rebounds in his seven minutes of work in the second half
- Robert Morris became just the sixth team to outrebound Alabama this season, owning a 39-37 advantage on the glass
- The Colonials also held a 16-5 edge in offensive boards which resulted in the Colonials owning a 15-4 edge in second chance points
- The Crimson Tide reserves outscored their counterpards 41-11
- UA finished with an NCAA Tournament school record of 25 assists in the contest, surpassing the the 24 dimes vs. Wake Forest in the 1981 NCAA Tournament
- The point guard combination of Sears (10 assists) and Labaron Philon (8 assists) combined to record 18 assists with only three turnovers
First Half
- Alabama jumped on Robert Morris out of the gates, getting out to a 14-4 run across the opening six-plus minutes of action
- It was the first of three separate 10-point leads for the Crimson Tide in the opening stanza
- UA held an eight-point lead in the final minute of the half, but was outscored 5-1 to result in a 40-36 halftime advantage for the Tide
- Clifford Omoruyi led Alabama with 15 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting, while Mouhamed Dioubate
- had 10 points in 4-of-5 field goals
- The Tide shot 61 percent (17-of-28) from the floor, 40 percent (4-of-10) from deep and 50 percent (2-of-4) from the charity stripe
- In comparison, the Colonials went 41 percent (16-of-39) from the field, 29 percent (4-of-14) from beyond the arc and did not have a free throw attempt
Second Half
- With Alabama leading 62-58 at the 8:47 mark, Robert Morris went on a 7-2 spurt to take its only lead of the game at 65-64 with 7:10 remaining
- The Crimson Tide responded with an 11-1 run over the next 3:46 to regain the lead for good at 75-66 with 3:24 remaining
- From there, Alabame held on for the nine-point win
- Grant Nelson did not see any game action until coming into the game at the 8:47 mark with the Tide up four
- Nelson finished with a five points, three rebounds and a +7 in five minutes of action
- Mark Sears scored 19 of his 22 points in the final 20 minutes of action
