No. 1 seed Alabama beats Maryland 73-51 to advance to Sweet 16

BIRMINGHAM,Ala. (AP) — Brandon Miller heated up and so did Alabama, whichavoided the fate of two other top NCAA Tournament seeds and brushedaside Maryland 73-51 behind a dominant second half on Saturdaynight.

The CrimsonTide (31-5) advanced to their second Sweet 16 in the past threetournaments and ninth overall. Alabama will facefifth-seeded San DiegoStatein the South Region semifinals in Louisville,Kentucky, on Friday.

Before thegame even tipped off, two top seeds — Purdue and defending nationalchampion Kansas — had gone down, and No. 1 seed Houston trailedTide rival Auburn by 10 points at halftime earlier at Legacy Arenabefore pulling away.

Alabama andMiller got off to a slow start but the All-America freshman and topNBA prospect wound up with 19 points after going scoreless in thefirst-round game. Miller is nursing a groin injury and missed hisfirst nine shots of the tournament.

JahvonQuinerly scored 22 points on theone-year anniversaryof hisleft knee injury early in a second-round loss to Notre Dame, whichstill limited him early this season. Quinerly made 4 of 63-pointers.

CharlesBediako had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Alabama’s starters hit thebench with a couple of minutes left to chants of “Sweet 16” in thefriendly crowd.

JulianReese had 14 points for Maryland (22-13) before fouling out. JahmirYoung scored 12.

Alabama,the top overall seed, faced scant drama, unlike the other No.1s.

No. 16 seed FairleighDickinsontoppled top-seeded Purdue 63-58 on Friday inonly the second such upset. ThenNo. 8 Arkansas beat theJayhawks72-71 earlier Saturday. Houston ultimately pulledaway from Auburn as the Tide waited for their opportunity.

The firsthalf was more to Maryland’s liking — other than the 28-23 deficit —for a team that came in giving up just 63 points a game.

BIGPICTURE

Maryland:The 2002 national champion Terps failed to make their 15th trip tothe Sweet 16 in coach Kevin Willard’s first season. They also lostto Alabama in the second round two years ago under former coachMark Turgeon. Maryland’s defense was on point enough that it keptthe lead for much of the first half despite a stretch of ninestraight misses.

Alabama:Its depth has been on display so far. The Tide controlled the gamedespite not getting much scoring from starters Mark Sears and NoahClowney or Nick Pringle, the star of the opening game against TexasA&M-Corpus Christi.

UPNEXT

Alabamafaces a San Diego State team making its first Sweet 16 appearancesince 2004, which was also the year of the Tide’s only Elite Eightrun. The Crimson Tide have never reached the Final Four.