The 3-pointer: Three takeaways from Alabama’s win over Maryland

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — With two No. 1 seeds off the board top-seeded Alabama is rolling to the Candy 16.

In contrast to Kansas and Purdue, the Crimson Tide was in a position to keep away from the upset towards No. 8 seed Maryland, defeating the Terrapins 73-50 and punching its ticket to Louisville.

Listed below are three takeaways from Saturday’s win.

Miller’s introduction to March Insanity has been something however pleasant. Alabama’s most constant scorer this season, struggled to seek out the underside of the web as he was held scoreless for greater than 53 minutes in Birmingham. Nonetheless, towards Maryland, Miller lastly received his offense going as a driving layup at 6:44 within the first half snapped an 0-for-8 mark from the ground. After seeing his first shot fall, it gave Miller a surge of confidence as he completed with 9 factors within the first half.

With Miller lastly getting the proverbial monkey off his again, all that was left was for him to empty one from deep and he did simply that. Throughout the first two minutes of the second half, Miller drained a 3-pointer after which two possessions later, he did it once more. The 2 deep balls gave Alabama a double-digit lead, one it wouldn’t relinquish because of his 19 factors.

If there’s been a calling card for this 12 months’s Alabama crew, it’s depth. The crew that’s recognized for having eight completely different scorers contribute to the offense, shortened the bench towards Maryland. Usually a energy for Alabama wasn’t very efficient towards Maryland because it wracked up simply three factors from the bench within the first half. Nimari Burnett tallied all three factors on the free-throw line with lower than 4 minutes to go within the first half.

Even with Burnett’s three factors from the road, the bench went a mixed 0-for-4 from the sector and was a plus-seven on the ground within the first 20 minutes. For comparability’s sake, the beginning unit was a plus-68 throughout that stretch. Noah Gurley made the unit’s first basket from the ground on the 8:46 mark within the second half.

Coming into Saturday’s matchup all eyes have been fixated on the battle between 6-foot-9 ahead Julian Reese and 7-footer Charles Bediako. Reese, who’s Maryland’s main rebounder and shot blocker, was hindered by early foul bother on Saturday. Reese picked up his third foul with 8:50 left within the first half and with him on the bench, Alabama went on a 14-3 run to shut out the primary half with 5 factors. Throughout that span, three of Alabama’s 5 baskets have been layups with Maryland’s rim protector glued to the bench.

With Reese lacking, Maryland actually struggled to get its offense going because it missed 20 of its 22 pictures to shut out the half. Alabama dominated within the rebounding battle tallying 44 boards to Maryland’s 32. Bediako took full benefit of an undersized Maryland crew tallying his third double-double of the season with 10 factors and 10 rebounds.