Bama, Iona meet in First Round

Published Mar. 18, 2021 4:30 p.m. ET

Associated Press

No. 15 seed Iona (12-5) vs. No. 2 seed Alabama (24-6)

NCAA Tournament First Round, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis; Saturday, 3 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Iona and Alabama will go at it in a NCAA First Round matchup. Alabama earned an 80-79 win over LSU on Sunday, while Iona got a 60-51 win against Fairfield on Saturday.

SENIOR STUDS: Iona's Isaiah Ross, Asante Gist and Dylan van Eyck have combined to account for 52 percent of the team's scoring this season and have scored 57 percent of all Gaels points over the last five games.ROBUST ROSS: Ross has connected on 39.1 percent of the 110 3-pointers he's attempted and has made 10 of 29 over the last five games. He's also converted 81.2 percent of his foul shots this season.

ACCOUNTING FOR ASSISTS: The Gaels have recently created baskets via assists more often than the Tide. Alabama has an assist on 45 of 90 field goals (50 percent) across its past three matchups while Iona has assists on 30 of 59 field goals (50.8 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: Alabama as a team has made 10.7 3-pointers per game this season, which is fourth-best among Division I teams.

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