Alabama guard Mark Sears (1) reacts during the second half of a Sweet 16 round NCAA college … More
No matter how many shots Mark Sears missed recently, the Alabama guard’s coaches and teammates remained confident in him. After all, Sears is the team’s leading scorer and a first team All-American. They knew he would break out of his slump.
Still, it is hard to imagine they envisioned what happened in No. 2 seed Alabama’s 113-88 victory over No. 6 seed BYU Thursday night in an NCAA tournament East Regional Sweet 16 game in Newark, N.J. The Crimson Tide set an NCAA tournament record with 25 3-pointers on 51 attempts, while Sears made 10 of 16 3’s, tied with three other players for second on the all-time NCAA tournament single game mark.
“I was just in a zone,” Sears said. “Once I saw the first three fell in, I felt like the basket was like as big as an ocean. Every time I shot, I felt like it was going in.”
Before Thursday, Sears had made just 5 of his 35 3-pointers (14.3%) in the previous six games, including missing 8 of 9 3’s in the first two NCAA tournament games. But he wasn’t discouraged.
“Even though when I was shooting 14%, my confidence was still high,” Sears said. “I never stopped doubting myself and stopped believing in myself. My teammates also kept encouraging me to keep shooting, keep shooting, keep shooting.”
Sears finished with 34 points, one shy of his career-best, and added 8 assists. He scored or assisted on 19 of Alabama’s 35 field goals and became the first player in NCAA tournament history with at least eight 3’s and seven assists. Aden Holloway, a sophomore transfer from Auburn, added 23 points and made 6 of 13 3’s.
“(BYU) had been going under ball screens just about every game we watched,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “I told both those guys, Holloway and Sears, ‘Man, I hope they go under us because we’re going to rein them.’”
Loyola Marymount held the old NCAA tournament record with 21 3’s on March 18, 1990 when the No. 11 seed Lions upset No. 3 seed Michigan, 149-115, in a second round game. LMU guard Jeff Fryer had 11 3’s that day, which still stands as the single-game record. That performance occurred two weeks after LMU star Hank Gathers collapsed during the West Coast Conference semifinals and later died. Afterward, LMU guard Bo Kimble, a friend of Gathers, began shooting free throws with his left hand to honor Gathers, who was a lefty.
After Thursday’s victory, Oats recalled being a ninth grader in 1990 and closely following LMU.
“I loved watching them play,” Oats said. “They got up-and-down. Maybe (it’s) part of the reason we coach the way we coach. It’s a little more fun that way.”
Oats mentioned that he wanted Alabama to break Troy University’s NCAA Division I record of 28 3-pointers in a game, but he admitted “25 is not bad.”
The Crimson Tide (28-8) will get another chance to set the mark on Saturday when they face the winner of the Duke-Arizona Sweet 16 game. Alabama is in the Elite 8 for just the third time in school history but second season in a row. Last year, the Crimson Tide made it to the Final Four for the first time. If they play the way they did on Thursday, the Crimson Tide should be in good position. They scored 100 points for the ninth time this season, had 25 assists on 35 field goals and made 18 of 21 free throws. They are averaging a Division I-best 91.4 points per game.
“I don’t know that we’re going to repeat 51 threes attempted, but we’re going to have the guys ready to play the right way in my opinion and fresh,” Oats said. “And if we get stops, it’s a lot easier to get out in transition. You can get some threes in transition, too.”
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