No. 2. Alabama vs. No. 15 Robert Morris
12:40 p.m. Friday, Rocket Arena, Cleveland
TV: truTV
Winner plays: Winner of No. 7 Saint Mary’s (28-5)/No. 10 Vanderbilt (20-12) on Sunday in second round
Series history: Alabama leads 1-0
Alabama (25-8)
Coach: Nate Oats
How they got here: Alabama earned an at-large bid out of the SEC.
Last NCAA appearance: 2024, reached the NCAA Final Four before falling to UConn, 86-72.
Leading scorer: Mark Sears, 18.7
Probable starting lineup
No., Player, Ht., Pos., Cl., PPG
0, Labaron Philon, 6-4, G, fr., 10.9
1, Mark Sears, 6-1, G, gr., 18.7
4, Grant Nelson, 6-11, F, gr., 11.8
8, Chris Youngblood, 6-4, G, gr., 10.0
11, Clifford Omoruyi, 6-11, C, gr., 7.6
Notable: The Crimson Tide are coming of a 104-82 loss to Florida in the SEC semifinals. … Alabama has 11 wins this season over teams in the AP Top 25. It leads the NCAA in scoring at 91.1 ppg and also rebounding at 43.1 rpg. … Guard Mark Sears was selected as an AP All-American and Naismith Player of the Year semifinalist after averaging 18.7 ppg and 7.6 rpg. He is one win away from becoming Alabama’s all-time winningest player in NCAA Tournament games. He has surpassed 2,500 career points and ranks second among active Division I players with 2,767 points. … Guard Labaron Philon was picked to the SEC All-Freshman team. Forward Grant Nelson is nursing an injury and will be a game-time decision. … Alabama is in the tournament for the 26th time and has a record of 27-24. The Crimson Tide reached the Final Four for the first time last season. This is the first time in program history that Alabama has earned a top-four seed in three straight seasons. It is the Crimson Tide’s fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. … Alabama defeated Robert Morris, 64-56, in the programs’ only meeting in 2014. … Nate Oats has a career record of 238-105. He is 142-62 in 10 years at Alabama.
Quotable: “But if a team tries to get physical with us in the tournament, we’re used to physicality. Everybody tries to get physical with us, stop our offense. We’re the No. 1-scoring offense in the country, grabbing, holding, not letting us cut. It’s been an effective strategy if it doesn’t get called. So I think our guys will be able to play with the physicality, and I’m actually welcoming a little bit tighter whistle to give them a little more freedom of movement, hopefully than maybe what we’ve had in the regular season.”
— Coach Nate Oats on the physicality in the SEC
Robert Morris (26-8)
Coach: Andy Toole
How they got here: Robert Morris earned an automatic NCAA bid after winning the Horizon League tournament.
Last NCAA appearance: 2020, tournament was canceled because of covid pandemic; 2015, beat North Florida, 81-77, in First Four, then lost to Duke, 85-56, in first round.
Leading scorer: Kam Woods, 15.1
Probable starting lineup
No., Player, Ht., Pos., Cl., PPG
3, Amarion Dickerson, 6-7, G/F, jr., 12.9
4, Josh Omojafo, 6-5, 6-5, G, jr., 11.4
7, Alvaro Folgueiras, 6-9, F, so., 14.1
8, Kam Woods, 6-2, G, sr., 15.1
11, DJ Smith, 6-1, G, jr., 9.0
Notable: Robert Morris has won 10 straight games, including an 89-78 win over Youngstown State in the Horizon League Tournament championship game. … Several Robert Morris players earned postseason honors. Folgueiras was the Horizon Player of the Year after averaging 14.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists. … Dickerson, who averaged 12.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.4 blocks, was the league’s defensive player of the year. Dickerson, who is a Cleveland native playing in his hometown, set the school record for blocks in a season with 80. He and Woods were both all-league second team. … Omojafo and Smith were picked to the Horizon League all-tournament team. Omojafo surpassed 1,000 career points earlier this season. … Woods led the Colonials in scoring at 15.1 ppg and was named the Horizon Tournament MVP after averaging 19.7 points and 5.3 assists. He was an AAU teammate with Alabama’s Sears. … Andy Toole has a career record of 252-240 in 15 seasons at Robert Morris. … The Colonials average 76.9 points, including a season-high 106-53 win over IU Indy on Jan. 30. … RMU is making its ninth NCAA Tournament appearance and has a record of 2-8.
Quotable: “In Cleveland, you can expect some diehard fans. Obviously growing up not too far from Rocket Mortgage Field House, probably five minutes away, you can expect the type of fans that we need, high energy, throughout the arena. It’s an away game, neutral game, but it’ll feel like a home game for us with all the fans traveling from Pittsburgh and all the fans we have here in Cleveland.”
— RMU G/F Amarion Dickerson, who played at Cleveland’s Rhodes High School