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Two seed Alabama will face off against 11 seed UCLA Sunday in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Men’s Tournament.
Alabama Crimson Tide Basketball
Alabama enters this match up with an impressive 96-77 win over Maryland that advanced them to the Sweet 16.
The Crimson Tide have been having their way as they enter their Sweet 16 match up on an eight game win streak. Alabama stamped its ticket to the NCAA Tournament by winning the SEC Tournament, defeating LSU in the championship game 80-79. The last loss Alabama took was on February 24th to Arkansas.
Five players landed in double-digits in their match up against Maryland, John Petty (20), Jaden Shackelford (21), Joshua Primo (10), Alex Reese (13) and Jahvon Quinerly (14 points & 11 assists).
Quinerly has been one of the leaders of this Alabama basketball team throughout this season. He’s a transfer from Villanova currently averaging 12.7 per game and he leads Alabama in three point percentage. Alabama’s last time in the Elite 8 was in 2004 where they took on the Florida Gators.
#NewSwag #Sweet16 | #RollTide pic.twitter.com/h8xXoJc3xM
— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) March 26, 2021
No.11 UCLA Basketball
UCLA was a team that barely got into the NCAA Tournament but it has played well while in it so far. UCLA lost its PAC-12 conference tournament championship game to Oregon State.
Since the start of NCAA Tournament, UCLA has made a huge turn around having their two key players to thank for that. Leading UCLA is Johnny Juzang who leads the Bruins in scoring in the NCAA Tournament at 23 points a game. Right alongside him is Jamie Jaquez with 16.7 points per game.
The UCLA Bruins made last appearance in the Sweet 16 in 2017 where they were knocked off by the Kentucky Wildcats 86-75. The last time these two schools faced each other was in a non- conference home-and-home series in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.
Whichever team wins they will match up with Tuesday against either number one seed Michigan or four seed Florida State. Tune in Sunday as tipoff is set for 7:15 p.m.
