Alabama plays BYU on Thursday

The University of Alabama men's basketball team is in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament for the third year in a row. If they want to advance further then they will have to beat Brigham Young on Thursday.

The number two seeded Tide defeated St. Mary's on Sunday 80 to 66. Bama led by 13 at the half.

Alabama is coached by Nate Oats

"We got up on them (St. Mary's) 13 at the half. We knew they weren't going to go away," said Coach Oats after the game. "They came out in the second half and were scoring on us a little too much. After they made a little run there, I thought our guys answered. We played well on the offensive end for most of the game. We had too many turnovers. They had zero turnovers at the half. We were able to turn them over six times in the second half, which was big."

The Tide led the entire second half with seven points being the smallest second half lead.

The Tide has six players score double figures in the win over St. Mary's. Senior Guard Chris Youngblood had 13 points, one rebound, and one assist. Senior Center Clifford Omoruyi had 10 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks. Senior Guard Mark Sears had 12 points and three assists. Senior Forward/Center Grant Nelson had 12 points, eight rebounds, and two assists. Sophomore Guard Aden Holloway scored 12 points and had one rebound and three assists. Sophomore Forward Mouhamed Dioubate scored 10 points and had five rebounds. Nelson's quick recovery from his injury in the Florida game last week is good news for the Tide moving forward in the tournament.

A number of national sports pundits had picked St. Mary's to upset Alabama.

14 SEC teams made the tournament field. 7 of the 16 Sweet 16 teams are SEC teams.

The win improves Alabama to 27 and 8 on the year.

The Tide will play BYU on Thursday at 6:10 p.m. CDT at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The winner will advance to the Elite 8. BYU is 26 and 9 on the season.