Alabama’s 89-87 victory over North Carolina on Thursday night put the Crimson Tide in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament for just the second time in program history.
Alabama plays again on Saturday in the West Regional Final against another Southern team looking for its first Final Four berth — Clemson. The fourth-seeded Crimson Tide (24-11) and the sixth-seeded Tigers (24-11) face off at approximately 7:49 p.m. Central on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, with television coverage on TBS and truTV.
Alabama last played in the Elite Eight in 2004, losing to eventual national champion Connecticut in Phoenix. The Crimson Tide had been 1-9 in Sweet 16 games before beating the Tar Heels on Thursday night.
Clemson knocked off No. 2 Arizona 77-72 on Thursday night to reach the Elite Eight. The Tigers’ only previous trip past the Sweet 16 came in 1980, when it lost to UCLA in Tucson, Ariz.
Alabama and Clemson have played once this season already, with the Tigers winning 85-77 in the ACC/SEC Challenge in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 28. PJ Hall scored 21 to lead the Tigers, while Mark Sears had 23 in a losing cause for the Crimson Tide.
Alabama is 4-8 all-time vs. Clemson, with all the meetings taking place during the regular season. The Crimson Tide has lost three straight to the Tigers, with Alabama’s last win coming 51-50 in Greenville, S.C., in December of 2015.
The other Elite Eight game on Saturday takes place at TD Garden in Boston, where No. 1 Connecticut meets No. 3 Illinois in the East Regional Final. That game tips off at 5:09 p.m. Central, also on TBS and truTV.
The other half of the Elite Eight will be set on Friday night, when Houston meets Duke and North Carolina State faces Marquette in the South Regional in Dallas and Purdue meets Gonzaga and Creighton faces Tennessee in the Midwest Regional in Detroit.
The winners of Friday’s games meet in the Elite Eight on Sunday. The Final Four takes place April 6 & 8 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.