Alabama basketball hero Mo Dioubate.
Read it twice if you need to. Throw some ice in the glass and sip slowly, if necessary. Crimson Tide fans might've expected almost anyone else to deliver the dagger blow to an NCAA Tournament opponent, and nothing about Dioubate's season suggested he was primed for such a moment.
Then again, March Madness can sometimes make the strangest of choices for its men of the hour.
So let it settle first, then recognize: the Crimson Tide, which outlasted Grand Canyon University 72-61 on Sunday night at the Spokane Arena, probably doesn't advance to the Sweet 16 round − a date with No. 1-seeded North Carolina on Thursday − without him.
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"In 12 minutes, he had five (offensive) boards, nine points, was (an asset) on defense," Oats said. "He's just a tough player who's never afraid of the moment, and he's done dirty work all year."
And boy, was it a game for dirty work.
Alabama's victory was a wrestling match on hardwood, just the style the Antelopes likely wanted, and officials were more than happy to oblige by swallowing their whistles and allowing heavy contact to rule the floor. There was a bloody nose on one side and a head injury on the other. Elbows flew. Bodies collided and fell to the floor. Rebounds were contested with a push here and a bang there. It was no place for the meek.
Enter Dioubate.
The freshman forward roared off the bench with 6:25 remaining and GCU leading 56-55, and Alabama needing a spark that wasn't going to come from 3-point range. That's not Dioubate's game anyway.
This was.
He poured in all nine of his points over that final 6:25, including nine in a row for his team, scoring around the rim amid the most physical inside play GCU could muster. A 44% free-throw shooter on the year, he rattled home 3 of 3 from there, pulled down a couple offensive rebounds and pretty much sealed victory for a team that looked nowhere near good enough to reach the Round of 16 in the SEC Tournament last week. Not bad for a guy who averaged fewer than eight minutes per game on the season.
"I just got lost in the game. I wasn't worried about scoring. I just let the game come to me," Dioubate said.
It came to him straight and hard, and he didn't flinch.
Oats gave Dioubate a hug as he exited the tunnel in Spokane Arena before the two joined the rest of the team to celebrate the program's second consecutive trip to Sweet 16. Alabama is moving on with a team that few expected would go this far.
Thanks to the hero even fewer expected.
Reach Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Unlikely hero saves Alabama basketball, just like March Madness demands
