Cleveland, OH
How Alabama Basketball Plans to Counter Saint Mary’s Slow Pace
CLEVELAND –– Alabama men’s basketball is known for its lightning-quick pace. So much so that the Crimson Tide’s 78.8 possessions per game is the most in the nation.
This fast play-style has helped Alabama to create the No. 1 scoring offense (91.1 points per game) in college basketball, which has led to a placement as the 2-seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament.
The Tide survived a 90-81 scare against 15-seed Robert Morris in Cleveland on Thursday afternoon and will face 7-seed Saint Mary’s in the same Rocket Arena on Sunday.
While Alabama aims for as many possessions as possible, the exact opposite could be said about the Gaels. Saint Mary’s ranks 358th out of 364 in this category with 65.5 possessions per game. This has worked in their favor defensively as Saint Mary’s 60.5 points allowed per game is the fourth-best mark in the country.
“When we play these slower teams, it’s not really an adjustment, to be honest with you. I mean, we’re going to try to push the pace,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “We just can’t let them get multiple shots on multiple possessions.
“We can’t get frustrated with their slow pace. I mean we may be lucky to get over 70 possessions. We’ve had multiple games this year where it’s been 80 possession games in 40 minutes. They’re comfortable playing closer to 60 possessions in the game sometimes. They’re a low-possession team, they’re very methodical, they’re very deliberate, and they’re very good at what they do. What they do, they do really well.”
Part of the reason for the Crimson Tide’s survival against Robert Morris was due to the Colonials winning 19-5 in the offensive rebounding battle. Alabama has a chance to redeem itself against the Gaels, but it will be extremely difficult as Saint Mary’s 13.9 offensive rebounds per game is good for No. 11 in the country.
This is how Alabama plans to counter Saint Mary’s slow pace.
“The emphasis is going to be on rebounding,” Oats said. “Some teams will be afraid to get in a running match with us…but they’re not. They send their three, four and five every single time, pretty much no matter what. So if we can defensive rebound, we can get some run-outs on these guys. So it’s not as if we’ve got to prepare. We just got to rebound, and we know it.”
“They’re not complicated in that they don’t run 50 different sets. They’re complicated in that they’re extremely good, and it’s hard to take them out of what they do. So they’re simplified, but good at what they do, and it’s going to take some toughness. You know, if we come in soft, we’re going to have a chance to win this game.”
Oats also emphasized that forcing tough shots will be crucial to Alabama’s success. In other words, continuing the Crimson Tide’s fast pace on offense won’t be Oats’ top priority as as keeping the Gaels on their toes will be higher on the totem pole.
Alabama forward Grant Nelson and guard Chris Youngblood are both aiming for as many possessions as possible but are also holding up Oats’ core values ahead of Sunday.
“Yeah, they obviously play a lot slower than us, so I feel like they’re going to try to slow the game down,” Nelson said. “But we saw yesterday at the beginning of the game when they played Vandy, where Vandy pushed the pace early and they got off to a good start. So we’re going to, obviously, try to play our game of basketball and push the pace on them.”
“It’s way easier to play fast when you’re getting stops, so the key is focus on getting stops and make sure we take care of the glass because they’re a great offensive rebounding team,” Youngblood said. “So the key is getting stops and taking care of the glass, and it’s easier to play fast where you’re playing off stops.”
Cleveland, OH
Woman killed, several children injured in Ohio Turnpike crash in Lorain County
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A 28-year-old woman is dead, and three children are hospitalized following a one-car rollover accident in Elyria Township in the eastbound lanes of the Ohio Turnpike.
The crash happened around 11:54 a.m. at milepost 146.3.
During the investigation of the crash OSHP learned that the crash happened when the Toyota RAV4, driven by Najalee N. Rivera, drove off the right side of the road, struck a guardrail, and overturned.
The vehicle was also occupied by three children. A 7-year-old boy, a 8-year-old girl, and 4-year-old girl all from Lorain, they all suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were transported by LifeCare Ambulance to University Elyria Hospital.
Rivera was not wearing a safety belt at the time of the crash, according to OSHP.
Two of the lanes were reopened about 4:15 p.m., according to a social media post from the Ohio Turnpike.
Check back with 19 News for the latest on this story.
Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.
Cleveland, OH
LOOK: Remembering the Cavs championship win, victory parade 10 years later
CLEVELAND (WJW) — Ten years ago, Cleveland experienced one of the most unforgettable moments in the city’s history.
The Cavaliers became the first-ever team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a championship. By winning the 2016 NBA Finals, they also ended a 52-year championship drought for Cleveland.
Mr. Cavalier, Austin Carr, said he still relishes that moment 10 years later.
“The odds we overcame to win that championship,” he said. “Not only did we have to win three straight games, but we also had to have the right things happen at the right moment in order to win it. And that just tells me how difficult it is … with ‘The Shot’, ‘The Block’, and the defensive move. All those. It was just meant to be.”
The victory over the Golden State Warriors catapulted LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, J.R. Smith and the rest of the crew into essential Northeast Ohio sainthood.
When Akron’s own James screamed the now-famous phrase, “Cleveland, this is for you!” following the game, a whole legion of Cleveland fans around the country wept and cheered along with him.

When Smith refused to put a shirt on for what seemed like a whole summer in honor of the win, it felt right and proper.
Whenever the long-since traded Irving comes back to town, he’s remembered for his important 3-pointer at the end of Game 7 and not the way he left the team.
And the city made history again just a few days later, when more than 1.3 million people flooded downtown Cleveland for the championship parade. According to the Cavs, it remains the largest NBA championship parade ever.
The current Cavaliers (now in their Donovan Mitchell era) haven’t been back to the NBA Finals. They reached the conference finals this past spring for the first time since 2018. But a finals appearance has still eluded the wine and gold.
Cleveland, OH
Violent crime crackdown leads to 11 felony arrests and gets eight guns off Cleveland’s streets
CLEVELAND, OH — Cleveland police and Gov. Mike DeWine’s office touted the results of a violent crime reduction operation that led to 11 arrests and took eight illegally possessed guns off the city’s streets Wednesday.
“We got bad people off the street, and we’ll continue to get bad people off the street,” said Cleveland Police Sgt. Wilfredo Diaz.
The operation was a collaboration between police, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s deputies, U.S. Marshals Service and the Ohio Investigative Unit.
Diaz said it focused on both traffic enforcement and executing search warrants and arrest warrants targeting suspected criminals identified through ongoing investigations.
“[We] use intelligence-led policing to really saturate specific areas where we believe there’s an influx of crime, violent crime in particular,” said Diaz.
The numbers were music to the ears of Councilman Mike Polensek.
“We want this presence,” said Polensek, who chairs the council’s Safety Committee. “We want this presence in our neighborhoods. You’ve got to lay the law down. Our residents want this to take place.”
Polensek previously called on Mayor Justin Bibb to ask for help from the state and county to address what he called ridiculous levels of violence in the city.
Polensek cited numbers showing Cleveland police have lost hundreds of officers over the last two decades.
‘If we’re going to reclaim our streets, that’s what it’s going to be, all hands on deck,” said Polensek.
Diaz said more of the special details are already planned, but he would not reveal specific details.
He did offer this warning to the criminals terrorizing the city.
“If there are any bad actors that watch Channel 5, we want this message to get out,” said Diaz, “that we didn’t get you this time, we’re going to get you next time.”
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