Believe It: San Diego State Beats Alabama for First Trip to Elite 8 in School History
Elite 8 #Elite8
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – MARCH 24: Keshad Johnson #0 of the San Diego State Aztecs and Miles Byrd #21 of the San Diego State Aztecs celebrate after defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide, 71-64, during the second half in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at KFC YUM! Center on March 24, 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
The pace. The back-and-forth. The final minutes playing out for what seemed like eternity. Everything about San Diego State’s 71-64 win over top-seeded Alabama was familiar to Aztecs fans, but the win takes the program to new territory.
They’re in the Elite 8 now, three wins away from a National Championship. No Mountain West Conference school has ever made it this far.
It didn’t come without drama, though. A Jaedon Lee missed free throw with 55 seconds left led to an Alabama layup that closed the gap to two points. A quick foul put Matt Bradley, the season’s leading scorer who had only registered 4 points on 2 of 9 shooting to that point, on the line and he sank two to push the lead back to four with 34 seconds left.
From there, Bama played the hack-a-Tec game, and a series of trips to the charity stripe put SDSU up for good.
Darrion Trammell took over in the second half, sparking a mini-run that helped the Aztecs maintain a tight lead in the final minutes. He finished the game with 21 of SDSU’s 71 points. Big man Jaedon LeDee added 12 of his own and a six-pack of boards.
The Aztecs defense held Alabama to 34% shooting from the field, including a down-home 13% (3 of 23) from deep.