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The Alabama men’s basketball will face LSU in the SEC Tournament Championship game on Sunday.
The third-seeded LSU defeated second-seeded Arkansas in the semifinal game Saturday afternoon, 78-71.
Alabama have beaten twice this season, breaking an SEC record in January with 23 points in a 105-75 win at Baton Rouge. He shot down the Tigers, 78-60, two weeks later at the Coleman Coliseum.
“They are ridiculously talented,” Oats said of LSU. “Their offensive firepower is as good as anyone, maybe, in the country. I’m sure they’ll make some adjustments and be good to go. It’s hard to beat a team as good as they are three times in a year.
Oats said his staff and players would have liked to see a rematch with Arkansas, which handed Tide one of their two conference losses last month in Fayetteville and won 12 straight SEC games starting out. Saturday.
Sunday’s title match kicks off at noon CT and will air on ESPN.
“It’s going to be good. Like I said yesterday, bring your popcorn. It’s going to be awesome. It’s gonna be one for the ages. Heavyweight fight blow for blow, ”said LSU forward Darius Days. “I have a feeling it’s going to be a shootout tomorrow. It will be a great game. “
Earlier Saturday, seeded Alabama dug a 15-point hole to beat fourth-seeded Tennessee, 73-68, in the first semifinal game. The victory put the Tide in the SEC title game for the first time since 2002.
Alabama, who won their first regular-season conference title in 19 years, haven’t won the SEC tournament championship game since 1991. Tide, coached by Wimp Sanderson, beat the Vols that year, but has only appeared in the game twice since then, losing to Kentucky in 1993 and Mississippi State in 2002.
“[A tournament title] it would mean everything to me, ”said Alex Reese, a Pelham native and senior. “That’s what we came here for – me, Herb [Jones] and [John Petty], came here to change the culture and take us in a winning direction.
Jones, of Greensboro, and Petty, of Huntsville, were part of Alabama’s highly ranked recruiting class of 2017 who are playing their final games as seniors. Even though Alabama is comfortably a No.2 seed for the NCAA tournament, coach Nate Oats discussed whether his outgoing seniors could add regular season and tournament conference titles to the school records book.
“Part of the reason I came to school here, to try and turn it into a basketball school,” Jones said. “I think we’re doing this right now. We just have to show up and bring in the energy that we brought in the second half [Saturday] for 40 minutes [Sunday]. “
Alabama is projected as the # 2 highest seeded by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi ahead of Sunday night’s support reveal show. Lunardi wrote The Tide on Saturday, “won’t be a No. 1 seed, regardless of the SEC tournament results.”
Oats believes his team should have a chance to seed the tournament, which begins with first-round matches next Friday and Saturday in the Indianapolis area.
“I guess if we won [the title game], we would have a very good chance of having just one seed, ”he said. “Someone told me – I think there are maybe 25 teams in the last few years – that have won both the regular season and the tournament in a Power 5 league, and 20 of 25, I think. , all have a seed.
“I think we would be in good company to get one if we win both. Otherwise, we have no control over it. We control how hard we play and we will try to bring it as much as we can.
Alabama could be without first-year goaltender Josh Primo, who missed Saturday’s game with a left MCL sprain.
“The kind of day-to-day Primo from what the coach said,” Oats said. “I know he had a job this morning. There are going to be a lot more this afternoon. We’ll see where that takes him. If he’s not good enough to play him tomorrow, we’ll try to bring him back for the NCAA tournament at some point.
“But it’s not something he’s going to be missing that required surgery or anything like that. He’s set to come back to play this year – whether it’s tomorrow, next weekend, Sweet 16 weekend at some point. Hope we get it back soon.
Alabama and LSU last met in tournament in 2014, a second-round loss to the Tide. Their previous meeting was in the 1987 championship game, one of Alabama’s six title wins. This ranks second in SEC history behind Kentucky’s 31 tournament crowns.
“We have to find something to see if we can keep in touch with Bama tomorrow,” said LSU coach Will Wade. “Obviously we have to do something very different from what we did the first two times. They absolutely blew us away.
Mike Rodak is an Alabama Beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on twitter @mikerodak.
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