Saint Mary’s made more of a game of it in the second half, but at the same time, not really.

Alabama was always well positioned to close out the game well, and the Crimson Tide did.

No. 2 seed Alabama defeated No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s 80-66 on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. As a result, the Crimson Tide secured a spot in the Sweet 16. Alabama will face BYU on Thursday in Newark, New Jersey.

Saint Mary’s never put together a run of more than 5-0. The Gaels couldn’t come any closer than seven in the second half either.

“Our offense, we got some transition buckets, I thought we were able to get our bigs on some lobs,” Alabama coach Nate Oats told TNT postgame. “I thought we got out in transition a little bit.”

Alabama also managed to score 80 points, something no team has done in 105 games against the Gaels. The Crimson Tide had the nation’s fastest tempo entering the game, per KenPom. Meanwhile Saint Mary’s had one of the slowest.

“They’re good,” Oats said. “They’re tough. I don’t think anybody played at the pace we played at against them.”

And Alabama got the win with six players reaching double figures.

“I think it’s hard to focus on anybody,” Oats said. “(Mark Sears) is the first team All-American, and he’s comfortable making passes, getting everybody involved. You look at it as, our leading scorer had 13. And we had five or six guys between 10 and 13. It’s hard to focus on one guy. Our Mudita’s been good this year.”

And now the Crimson Tide will face a BYU team that is also one of the top 10 offenses in the country. The Cougars are under the direction of Kevin Young, who is in his first season coaching BYU.

“Shoot, Kevin’s done an unbelievable job this year,” Oats said. “They play an NBA style. They’ve spaced the floor. We’re going to have to really guard. They’re good. I watched them a little bit because I was interested to see what he did in college.”

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.