BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Alabama buried Texas A&M-Corpus Christi beneath an early 3-point onslaught, launching the NCAA Tournament’s peak seed to a 96-75 first-round romp on Thursday even with superstar freshman Brandon Miller going scoreless.
The Crimson Tide (30-5) put aside their off-court distractions and buried 10 first-half 3s in a predictably simple win over the Sixteenth-seeded Islanders (24-11) at Legacy Arena, not up to an hour from campus.
Miller, the All-American who has been beset by way of questions on his presence on the scene of a deadly capturing, sat out the general 14 mins and ignored all 5 box function makes an attempt. His earlier low used to be 8 issues towards Houston on Dec. 10.
Miller hasn’t been accused of any crime within the capturing, which resulted in capital homicide fees towards then-teammate Darius Miles and every other guy.
Alabama didn’t want the 6-foot-9 freshman to have a large recreation to advance to play eighth-seeded Maryland on Saturday within the South Region. The Tide coasted after main 54-34 by way of the half of.
Nick Pringle, a junior university switch who got here in averaging 3 issues a recreation, scored 17 and had a season-high 13 rebounds. Mark Sears made 3 3s in a 58-second span of the primary half of and scored 15 issues. Jahvon Quinerly scored 13 and Nimari Burnett had 11.
Noah Clowney scored all 10 of his issues within the first five-plus mins, together with 3 3s.
Trevian Tennyson led the Islanders with 20 issues. Isaach Mushula scored 16 and Owen Dease 14. The Islanders have by no means overwhelmed a ranked crew.
Coach Steve Lutz has lifted the Islanders to 2 instantly NCAA Tournaments since taking on a crew that had long gone 5-19 the yr prior to his arrival.
The Islanders had been with out Terrion Murdix (left knee harm), the Southland League defensive participant of the yr.
BIG PICTURE
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: Advanced with its first tourney win in a play-in recreation towards Southeast Missouri State.
Alabama: Made 8 of eleven 3s early and 15 of 33 (45.5%) within the recreation. Got to play in an enviornment stuffed with crimson-and-white towards the large underdogs.
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