BYU will face Alabama in the Sweet 16. Here’s what the Tide had to say about the Cougars

PROVO (KSL.com) — Five years after rumors began to fly of a game between BYU and Alabama on the gridiron, the Cougars and Tide will finally face each other — on the basketball court.

Any thoughts of BYU’s WCC reunion with Randy Bennett will have to wait.

Clifford Omoruyi had a double-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks and second-seeded Alabama had six double-digit scorers Sunday in advancing to the Sweet 16 with an 80-66 win over Saint Mary’s at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

Chris Youngblood had 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including three 3-pointers, for the Tide, who got 12 points apiece from Mark Sears, Grant Nelson and Aden Holloway. Mouhamed Dioubate added 10 points and five rebounds for Alabama (27-8).

The Tide will face BYU (26-9) in Thursday’s regional semifinal at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. It’ll be the third meeting of a series Alabama leads 2-0, including a 71-59 victory Nov. 24, 2017 in the Barclays Center Classic when Yoeli Childs had 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Mitchell Saxen scored a game-high 15 points with five rebounds and three steals to lead the Gaels (29-6), who shot just 34.3% from the field and 21.4% from beyond the arc.

Alabama coach Nate Oats hasn’t faced the Cougars but says they are “definitely way more stylistically like us,” though he is familiar with first-year head coach Kevin Young after spending time in Phoenix Suns training camp when Monty Williams was the head coach and Young was a top assistant.

“He’s great. I’ve kind of been interested to follow him as he got into college. He’s done a really good job there,” said Oats, whose team ranks fourth in KenPom’s offensive efficiency ratings — four spots ahead of BYU.

Oats said he hasn’t scouted BYU “totally” yet, while adding that “I don’t know that I want to say it’s refreshing to go against somebody that plays like us because I think we’re really tough to guard, and we’ve led the country in scoring the last two years.

“I don’t think anybody is saying it’s refreshing to play Alabama, whoever is running the defense for the other team,” he added. “I mean, in a way, maybe it’s not such a smash-mouth game like playing football out there like some of these teams, but they’re not easy to cover. He’s running great sets. They’ve got shooters all over the place. They’re good.

“We’re going to have to really lock in and coaches are going to have to really do a good job getting our guys ready and then our guys are going to have to execute the plan is whatever we decide to put in and we’re going to have to make adjustments to it because I’m sure he’ll make adjustments.”

It’s the first time Alabama has made three consecutive Sweet 16 appearances in school history, which Oats is “looking forward” to playing. But not necessarily against a team like BYU, which has won 11 of the last 12 games.

Thursday’s tilt will mark BYU’s first regional semifinal since 2011 — when former star Jimmer Fredette also led the Cougars to a pair of wins in Denver before an overtime loss to Florida.

Their return to the Mile High City proved to hold “good omens,” said first-year head coach Kevin Young — in addition to a decisive home-court advantage of thousands of traveling supporters who made the 1.5-flight or 482-mile drive to Ball Arena.

“Personally I’ve had good memories in this building, and so this is by far the best one, man,” Young said after Saturday night’s 91-87 win over third-seeded Wisconsin. “Just the energy in the building, you can’t describe it. It felt like, honestly, a home game in certain moments for Cougar Nation, just everywhere, just so much blue out there. Obviously, Denver has been good to us.”

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