NEWARK, N.J. – The No. 2 seed Alabama men's basketball team and No. 6 seed BYU are set to square off in the NCAA Tournament East Region Sweet 16 on Thursday night at 5:09 p.m. CT (6:09 p.m. ET) on TBS.
The Crimson Tide and Cougars will meet for the third time in series history and the first time in the postseason. Alabama won both of the previous two contests, the most recent coming in a 71-59 win on Nov. 24, 2017.
All four teams in the East Regional Semifinal, which also includes No. 1 seed Duke and No. 4 seed Arizona, previewed Thursday’s contests, with Alabama making final preparations for its contest against BYU. Crimson Tide coaches and players met with local and national media, network television and national radio for 40 minutes prior to practice.
Once all the talking was done, the team spent an hour and 45 minutes on the game floor at Prudential Arena finalizing its gameplan for Thursday night.
The Tide advanced to the East Regional Semifinal contest thanks to a 90-81 victory over 15th-seeded Robert Morris in the first round and an 80-66 win over No. 7 seed St. Mary’s in the round of 32. The Cougars reached the tournament’s second weekend with wins over No. 11 seed VCU (80-71) and No. 3 seed Wisconsin (91-89)
A victory over the Cougars would give the Tide its second consecutive Elite Eight appearance, and third such showing in program history (2004).
