How Grant Nelson’s presence helped save Alabama basketball in March Madness vs. Robert Morris

Grant Nelson wasn’t even supposed to play for Alabama basketball. Nursing an injured knee from the SEC Tournament semifinals, the forward was available, but the Crimson Tide wasn’t going to put him on the court against Robert Morris to begin the NCAA Tournament.

Then, the Colonials threatened to pull off a huge upset, and Nelson called his own number with 8:47 left. Alabama turned things around late, and won 90-81.

“He stood up, like, ‘Hey, put me in,’ and we had to go.,” UA head coach Nate Oats said after the game. “I trust him. He shows up big in big games. He came in, and we went on a run right away. I think we outscored them 32-23 from there, and he made some big plays, starting with that loose ball right out there off the free-throw line. He had the dunk, and thought he made some good defensive plays.”

Nelson finished with five points in seven minutes of action. He had three rebounds as well, including one of just five on the offensive glass for Alabama.

After the game, Robert Morris coach Andrew Toole said the fact that Nelson played at all was a credit to the Colonials.

“We tried to put him in some actions to try to test him a little bit, but obviously, he made some plays late,” Toole said. “His size is just hard to deal with. He’s able to kind of just take up so much space out there that even when you try to get him in some screening actions or whatever, he’s able to make effective plays.”

Nelson was a huge part of last season’s run to the Final Four. He was the Crimson Tide’s top performer in its upset win over North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen.

After the win, his teammates emphasized how important the fifth-year senior from North Dakota is to Alabama.

“He makes rebounding plays that some guys can’t make,” Labaron Philon said in the locker room. “He just goes up and gets them, and that really helped.”

Next up for Alabama, a team with a much stouter frontcourt than Robert Morris. The Crimson Tide will face either Vanderbilt or Saint Mary’s in the second round.

Nelson is expected to be good to go for that game. That’s good for Alabama, which will need to boost its performance if it’s going to make another run late into the tournament.

“We called him the secret weapon today,” Derrion Reid said of Nelson. “Obviously, times got a little hard and Grant was ready to go when it was time. And it’s like, next man up with us. That’s how deep our team is.”

The Crimson Tide will play again Sunday, at Rocket Arena in Cleveland.