SPOKANE, Wash. — Mark Sears carried the Alabama men's basketball team long enough Sunday night for the Crimson Tide to get an unexpected contribution and reach the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16.
Who is Mouhamed Dioubate?
"He won us the game the last five minutes," Sears said.
Sears had 26 points and 12 rebounds, Dioubate scored all nine of his points in the final 5 1/2 minutes, and fourth-seeded Alabama used a late surge to beat No. 12 seed Grand Canyon 72-61 in a second-round matchup in the West Region.
The Tide (23-11) leaned heavily on Sears for the better part of 35 minutes before getting some unexpected help from Dioubate. The 6-foot-7 freshman had scored more than nine points only twice all season, but he made the most of his chance to contribute in the final minutes of a physical game with Alabama in foul trouble and without starter Latrell Wrightsell Jr., who exited with a head injury in the first half.
"I was just playing hard, and I got lost in the game, honestly. I wasn't thinking about scoring. I just let the game come to me," Dioubate said. "Coach put me in with a few minutes left in the game because Jarin (Stevenson) fouled out, and I just tried to play as hard as I can and let my defense contribute to offense, and that's what I did."
Alabama advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 10th time overall and the third time in four tournament appearances under coach Nate Oats, who took over in Tuscaloosa ahead of the 2019-20 season — which ended without an NCAA tourney due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now the Tide will play in a regional semifinal in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1990-91; last year, Alabama was the tournament's overall No. 1 seed after sweeping the Southeastern Conference's regular-season and tournament titles for the second time in thee years but fell to eventual national runner-up San Diego State.
This time, it will be the Tide trying to take down the West's No. 1 seed, North Carolina (29-7), on Thursday in Los Angeles. Alabama joins SEC regular-season champ Tennessee, the Midwest Region's No. 2 seed, in giving the league two teams in the Sweet 16 after the conference had eight make the 68-team field but went 3-5 in the first round.
"We had multiple guys in there putting their nose in and making tough plays," Oats said. "Sears wasn't going to lose. He wasn't letting us lose tonight."
Sears shot 8-for-18 and cheekily waved goodbye in the final seconds to the Grand Canyon "Havocs" fans who filled Spokane Arena. Dioubate also grabbed five rebounds, all on the offensive end, in his 12 minutes and played solid defense on Grand Canyon star Tyon Grant-Foster.
Grant-Foster finished with 29 points, one off his career high, but didn't score in the final four minutes. The Lopes (31-4) shot 32%, including a brutal 3-of-17 to begin the game. They also couldn't find anything from beyond the 3-point arc, going 2-of-20. Coach Bryce Drew's squad came in averaging seven 3s per game.
"The offensive rebounds were the most, probably the biggest difference in the game, even despite our shooting," Drew said. "If we rebound, I think the last five minutes goes different."
Alabama led 42-32 early in the second half, only to see the Lopes chip away. Grand Canyon went ahead 56-55 on Collin Moore's free throw with 6:25 left — its first lead since it was 9-7 — and Grant-Foster scored off Alabama's 10th turnover of the half for a 58-55 lead with 6:03 left.
The Tide responded with seven straight points. Dioubate scored on a three-point play off an offensive rebound and added a slashing basket through traffic. He made two more free throws with 3:48 left to give Alabama a 64-61 lead, and his basket with 2:25 left pushed the lead to five.
Dioubate's three-point play and his last basket both came off offensive rebounds by the Tide.
"We knew we had a chance to win that game," Grant-Foster said. "I will just say we were one rebound away from winning that game. We get one rebound, like, the game's turned. We win that game."
Alabama played the final 26-plus minutes without Wrightsell, who took an inadvertent elbow to the head. Oats said he believes the senior guard will be available against North Carolina.
AP photo by Young Kwak / Alabama men's basketball coach Nate Oats directs his team during the Crimson Tide's NCAA tournament second-round game against Grand Canyon on Sunday in Spokane, Wash.Clemson 72, Baylor 64
MEMPHIS — Chase Hunter had 20 points and six assists, and No. 6 seed Clemson (23-11) held off third-seeded Baylor (24-11) as the Tigers advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second time in coach Brad Brownell's 14 seasons. They also made it in 2018, when they lost to Kansas in the third round.
Joseph Girard III scored 13 points for the Tigers, and PJ Hall and Ian Schieffelin each had 11. Next up for Clemson is No. 2 seed Arizona (27-8) in a West Region semifinal Thursday in Los Angeles.
RayJ Dennis led Baylor with 27 points, including 21 in the second half, and Ja'Kobe Walter added 20, but the Bears lost in the second round for the third straight year since winning it all.
Baylor went 16-for-26 at the foul line, where Clemson was 20-for-24.
The Tigers controlled the game through the first half and most of the second, pushing their lead to 61-46 on Schieffelin's wild layup with 6:41 left. He flipped the ball over his head, and it somehow went in the basket as he was fouled, but he missed the ensuing free throw.
Walter's three-point play trimmed Clemson's lead to 64-62 with 2:19 to go. Baylor had a chance to tie with 36.2 seconds left, but Walter missed two foul shots. RJ Godfrey then made four free throws and Girard hit two to help Clemson close it out.
EAST REGION
UConn 75, Northwestern 58
NEW YORK — Donovan Clingan, Tristen Newton and the University of Connecticut, this year's overall No. 1 seed, overwhelmed ninth-seeded Northwestern to sail into the Sweet 16.
Newton had 20 points and 10 assists, and Clingan finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks as the Huskies (33-3) led wire to wire and became the first reigning national champions to reach the regional semifinals since Duke in 2016.
UConn built a 30-point cushion and matched a program record for wins set by the 2013-14 national championship squad. The Huskies will play Thursday night in an East Region semifinal against San Diego State on Thursday night in Boston, about an 85-mile drive from UConn's campus.
Undersized and overmatched, Northwestern's ninth-seeded Wildcats (22-12) were buried under a dizzying display of dunks, blocks, alley-oops and layups. They made a late push that prompted Huskies coach Dan Hurley to call a timeout with 5:26 remaining, but Northwestern never got the margin under 16.
San Diego State 85, Yale 57
SPOKANE, Wash. — Jaedon LeDee had 26 points and nine rebounds, Darrion Trammell added 18 points, and fifth-seeded San Diego State (26-10) used a fast start to overwhelm 13th-seeded Yale (23-10) and roll to the second-round victory.
The Aztecs scored the first 10 points of the game, led by 24 at halftime and removed any chance of another potential March Madness, bracket-busting upset by the Ivy League champion. Yale knocked out SEC tournament champ Auburn, a No. 4 seed in the first round Friday.
San Diego State's next game is a rematch of last year's national championship game. UConn beat the Aztecs 76-59 last April in Houston, denying the program a chance at its first NCAA title.
The Aztecs will be playing in the Sweet 16 in consecutive years for the first time in program history.
MIDWEST REGION
Purdue 106, Utah State 67
INDIANAPOLIS — Zach Edey had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and No. 1 seed Purdue (31-7) cruised into the Sweet 16 by pounding eighth-seeded Utah State (28-7) with an impressive offensive performance in the second round.
Trey Kaufman-Renn added 18 points and eight boards for the Boilermakers, who broke the school's single-season record for victories. Fletcher Loyer had 15 points, and Braden Smith had all six of his assists in the second half, when the Boilermakers shot 65.2% from the field before pulling their starters.
Great Osodor had 14 points and six rebounds for Utah State, which was outrebounded 49-26.
Next up is fifth-seeded Gonzaga (27-7) in the Midwest Region semifinals Friday in Detroit. The other semifinal has No. 2 seed Tennessee (26-8) facing No. 3 seed Creighton (25-9).
SOUTH REGION
Marquette 80, Colorado 77
INDIANAPOLIS — Tyler Kolek had 21 points and 11 assists, and David Joplin made two free throws with 7.4 seconds left to help Marquette finally put away Colorado.
In their third season under coach Shaka Smart, the second-seeded Golden Eagles (27-9) reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2013 by outlasting the 10th-seeded Buffaloes (26-11) and their dynamic offense.
Kam Jones scored 18 points and Joplin finished with 14 for Marquette, which shot 61.8% from the field but still couldn't shake Colorado until the closing seconds. Chase Ross made a tiebreaking 3 with 2:53 left and finished with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
KJ Simpson scored 20 points and Tristan da Silva had 17 for Colorado, which trailed by 11 at halftime but rallied to take a 55-54 lead just more than five minutes into the second half. Kolek put the Golden Eagles back on top with a short jumper and Marquette never trailed again, but Colorado tied it twice, the last time on a 3 by da Silva with 4:02 remaining.
The Buffs trailed 79-77 and had to foul three times before putting Joplin on the line for a 1-and-1 opportunity. He knocked down both free throws and set up a South Region semifinal meeting with No. 11 seed North Carolina State (24-14) in Dallas on Friday.
Houston 100, Texas A&M 94 (OT)
MEMPHIS — Emanuel Sharp started overtime with a 3-pointer that put top-seeded Houston ahead to stay as the Cougars (32-4) advanced to the Sweet 16 back in Texas by topping ninth-seeded Texas A&M (21-15).
The Aggies forced overtime with a furious rally, outscoring Houston 17-5 in the final two minutes of regulation. Andersson Garcia beat the buzzer with his ninth 3-pointer of the season, and then was mobbed by his teammates.
Sharp fouled out after his 3, finishing with 30 points. His teammates outscored Texas A&M 7-1 to start the extra session and close it out.
The win by Houston means all eight teams seeded 1 and 2 advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time since the NCAA tourney started seeding in 1979. The top eight seeds also advanced in 1989, 1995, 2009 and 2019.
The Cougars, in the Sweet 16 for the fifth straight NCAA tourney and 16th time in program history, will play Duke on Friday in Dallas in a regional semifinal.
Duke 93, James Madison 55
NEW YORK — Jared McCain scored 22 of his 30 points in the first half and set a Duke record for an NCAA tourney game with eight 3-pointers as the Blue Devils (26-8) ended a dream season for 12th-seeded James Madison (32-4) but moved on to the Sweet 16 themselves.
McCain and Duke emphatically ended the nation's longest active winning streak at 14 games, taking a 22-point lead into halftime and never letting the advantage slip below 20 in the second half. The rugged defense James Madison used to beat Wisconsin in the first round didn't seem to bother the Blue Devils at all.
The Dukes finished with a program record for victories.
McCain made his eighth 3 with 11:59 left in the second half, holding the follow-through and making the score 66-39. The charismatic freshman from California broke a program record set by Quinn Cook in a stunning first-round loss to Mercer in 2014.