LOUISVILLE, Ky. — This was not a big surprise.
Not for Alabama.
The Crimson Tide, despite their first-ever No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, knew they were in for a rock fight.
And certainly not for San Diego State.
The Aztecs, before the game Friday, openly scoffed at the notion that they were underdogs against the mighty Tide in the South Region semifinals.
By game’s end in the Sweet 16 showdown between contrasting styles at the KFC Yum! Center, fifth-seeded San Diego State, led by a game-high 21 points from Darrion Trammel, had taken down Alabama, 71-64.
San Diego State (30-6) advanced to an Elite Eight matchup on Sunday against Creighton.
The win was the Aztecs’ 13th in their past 14 games, and it took a spectacular second-half surge after it appeared Alabama had taken control of the game.
With Miami’s win over Houston, it marked the first time in NCAA men’s tournament history that no No. 1 seeds would reach the Elite Eight.
Alabama (31-6) led 48-39 with 11:35 remaining before San Diego State went on a furious 23-5 run to take a 62-53 lead with 3:44 remaining and seize the biggest win in school history.
“We’re not a one-hit wonder,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said before the game. “We have a program. We have a culture. I don’t care what game we go into; we don’t consider ourselves an underdog.”
This was what Dutcher said after the game: “We recruit and we say our goal is to win a national championship, so we can’t act surprised when we have an opportunity to advance to the Final Four.
That’s what we tell them when we recruit them, and it’s just not words to get them to come here. It’s words we believe in.”
San Diego State was driven by a standout performance from its point guard, Trammell, whose baskets were the biggest of the game, coming at the most critical moments.
The Aztecs, who pride themselves on their defense, held Alabama freshman star Brandon Miller in check.
He entered the game averaging 19.1 points, but scored only nine points on 3-for-19 shooting and 1-for-11 from 3-point range.
After a sluggish first half, the Crimson Tide trailed 28-23, but they came out early in the second half with more energy.
Miller, held to just four points in the first 20 minutes, started things off with a 3-pointer.
Alabama big man Charles Bediako, who was silent in the first half, scored six points in a span of two minutes to cap a 13-5 run and turn the five-point halftime deficit into a 36-32 lead.
The Tide kept pouring it on, surging to that 48-39 lead with 11:35 remaining when Nick Pringle dunked a Miller feed, forcing a San Diego State timeout.
At that point, the Tide had outscored the Aztecs 26-11 in the second half.
Then everything changed, thanks to Trammell.
San Diego State came out of that timeout and got right back into the game with a Trammell 3-pointer followed by a Trammell steal and layup.
Suddenly, Alabama led by just 48-44 with 10:47 remaining in the game.
A Trammell 3-pointer with 9:30 remaining cut the Alabama lead to 48-47, then one of two free throws from Nathan Mensah and a 3-pointer from Micah Parrish gave San Diego State a 51-48 lead and capped a 12-0 Aztecs run.
San Diego State never trailed again.
“As soon as we got up nine, they went on a 12-0 run [and] Trammell had eight of those 12 points … our defense on him wasn’t good,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said.
“Darrion came out of the timeout and hit a 3 and a two and he changed the momentum,” Dutcher said.
The pace of the game, particularly early, could not have gone any better for the Aztecs, who had no interest in getting into a track meet with deeper, more athletic Crimson Tide.
San Diego State controlled the pace of the game masterfully in the first half, frustrating Alabama, which loves to run, run, run.
The Aztecs were coming off two superior defensive performances in the NCAA Tournament.
They held high-scoring Charleston to just 57 points on 32 percent shooting in the first round and limited Furman to just 52 points on 32 percent shooting in the second round.
Alabama shot 32.4 percent and 11.1 percent from deep.
When asked after the game why his team is so confident, Dutcher said: “Because we’ve got an experienced team.
They’ve been in a million of these situations over their careers, so they didn’t shy away from the moment.
“They weren’t nervous. They just had a quiet confidence about them that they knew they had enough time to play themselves back into the game, and that’s what they did. We’re not going to over-celebrate. There’s another step to be had. This is not the end of the journey. This is the next step, and we’re waiting to take it.”
