Tuscaloosa, Ala. — Alabama didn't waste time being disappointed about not getting into the NCAA tournament.
Erwin Dudley's 22 points and career-high 19 rebounds as the Crimson Tide built a big lead and held on for an 85-79 victory over Seton Hall in a first-round NIT game Tuesday night.
Alabama will meet the South Alabama-Toledo winner in the second round.
"Many people thought we were going to come out with our heads down and we came out and fought," said Dudley, who also tipped in a missed free throw in the final seconds.
Rod Grizzard and Travis Stinnett also scored 22 as the Tide (22-10) saw their 21-point lead trimmed to three in the final nine minutes. Once a virtual lock for the NCAA tournament, Alabama had lost five of its last six.
Now, they've set their sights on making it to New York for the NIT final four.
"A lot of us have not been to New York," Grizzard said, "so that would be a great spring break."
Dudley hit a long jumper with the shot clock winding down, then Reggie Garrett's putback for Seton Hall with 8.8 seconds left to make it 82-79.
Grizzard was quickly fouled and hit his first free throw. He missed the second, but Dudley tipped it in with seven seconds left to seal the win.
The Pirates (16-15), who had won three of four coming in, have lost eight straight NIT first-round games since 1955-56.
"We're very much disappointed in the way things ended for us," Seton Hall coach Tommy Amaker said. "A lot of people probably felt they should have been in the other tournament.
"It looks like they are going to try to make a statement in this tournament and that's the way to go about it."
Alabama, which made it to the NIT semifinals in 1996, is 16-1 at home.
Dudley had nine of the Tide's 20 offensive rebounds as they dominated the boards 48-34, though center Kenny Walker had just two points and four rebounds. Dudley shot 10-of-17 from the floor.
Stinnett scored all of his points in the first half, when he was 6-of-8 from three-point range.
Memphis 71, Utah 62
Salt Lake City Earl Barron scored 18 points to lead Memphis past Utah.
Kelly Wise added 13 and Shamel Jones 10 for the Tigers (18-14), who never trailed in their first-ever NIT road victory.
Britton Johnsen led Utah (19-12) with 15 points and Chris Burgess added 10 as the Utes struggled to score against the Tigers.
Nick Jacobson hit a pair of three-pointers that keyed a 12-2 run to bring Utah within 56-52 with 5:25 remaining.
Wise, the Tigers leading scorer, fouled out with 6:16 to play, but Barron took over inside and scored four points during a 7-0 run that made it 66-55 with 1:15 to play.
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