Maryland forward Donta Scott wants to use Alabama’s biggest defensive strength against them.

Throughout the Terrapins locker room on Friday, players discussed the length the Crimson Tide can flex and how it made Alabama one of the most well-rounded teams in the country, using the stops it generates to create fast break opportunities. As eight-seeded Maryland looks to slow the game down enough to upset No. 1 Alabama tomorrow night in the NCAA Tournament second round, Scott said the Tide’s size can be the key to getting its stacked frontcourt in foul trouble.

“Just getting in the paint, driving contact and stuff,” Scott said of Maryland’s strategy. “Normally, taller, lankier people want to reach in and feel like they can get those steals ‘cause they got long arms. I feel like we can take advantage of that.”

Alabama (30-5) started the day ranked third nationally in adjusted-defensive efficiency on KenPom. Basically, the Crimson Tide allows 88.9 points per 100 possessions when considering the opponent’s quality. Maryland (22-12) ranks 29th in offense, scoring 114.4 points on average over 100 possessions. The key for the Terrapins is to slow the game down so both attacks have to operate in a half-court setting.

Tide bigs have been coached all year to limit its fouls near the rim, they said. In fall practices, if a player was caught moving his feet in a drill they’d be charged with a sprint down the court and back. They know they’re in for a physical, Big-10-style contest once the game tips at 8:50 CT.

“We emphasize utilizing what you’re gift is,” Noah Gurley said. “We got smaller guards, they’re gonna get up in you, pressure you versus somebody like me. I’ll give you a step or two and use my length and my advantage. … It’s really just playing smart.”

Players said first-year coach Kevin Willard has built a hard-nosed defensive group. Some defenders are also tabbed with always getting back down the floor after a defensive, forgoing an opportunity for second-chance points. Deflecting passes and disrupting offensive rhythm is essential, with junior guard Jahari Long saying the team’s goal is about 25 tips a game. That’s down from 40 a contest from Willard’s time at Seton Hall.

Turnovers plagued Alabama at times this season. It committed eight in the first round against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, its lowest amount of giveaways since Feb. 8 against Florida. Long described Alabama as having the length of Northwestern and fellow No. 1 seed Purdue but the shooting ability of Penn State, which is ranked 6th in the country overall.

Grad student and forward Patrick Emiilien admitted Alabama may have “that extra step” and improved athleticism, but causing a few miscues — in addition to Brandon Miller’s groin injury — could give the Terrapins a chance to avenge the second-round loss Alabama gave Maryland in 2021.

“It’s definitely going to be a battle of tempo. They’d like it to be slower. We’d like it to be faster. They’ve got a press that they use that if you attack it the right way, I think it can speed the game up. If you don’t, it can slow the game down,” Oats said. ” … I’ll say this. We’re not a team that plays fast based on pressing and gambling on defense. That’s not how we do it. We stay solid on defense. If you want to milk the shot clock and you want to end up in the last eight, ten seconds of the shot clock every time down and want to take a tough shot, we’re content with letting you do that because we feel like — we looked at all the numbers. We’ve got analytics and all that.

“So we play Missouri, we end up with 85 possessions. We play a team like Maryland that wants to play really slow, I hope it’s not 55, but somewhere in the middle. If we could be 70, we’d be all right.”

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Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].