There were no bad shots for Alabama in the Sweet 16.
Especially not from three-point range, where the Crimson Tide set a new March Madness record by making 25 three-pointers on 51 attempts, eliminating Loyola Marymount from a record they had held for 35 years.
Mark Sears stood out in Alabama’s 113-88 win over BYU on Thursday night, hitting 10 of 16 from beyond the arc and scoring 34 points.
“I was just in a zone,” Sears said. “Once I saw the first three go in, I felt like the basket was as big as an ocean. Every time I shot, I thought it was going in. I just got lost in the game and let everything happen.”
Sears made the 22nd three-pointer of the game late in the match, breaking the previous record, and received a standing ovation as he left the game with over four minutes left, having made 10 threes.
Sears was just one three-pointer short of breaking the record set by Jeff Fryer during Loyola Marymount’s 149-115 victory over Michigan in 1990. That Lions team, led by Hank Gathers before his tragic death on the court, was coached by Paul Westhead, whose team often scored over 100 points that season.
A fun fact: After beating Michigan, Loyola Marymount also defeated Alabama, coached by Wimp Sanderson at the time, with a close score of 62-60, which was Loyola Marymount’s lowest-scoring game of the season.
This year’s Alabama team, coached by Nate Oats, is the highest-scoring team in the country, averaging 90.8 points per game. This was the ninth game this season in which they scored more than 100 points.
Sears, a first-team All-America guard, had been struggling with his shooting before this game. He made only 1 of 9 attempts in the first weekend of the tournament and just 3 of 25 in his last five games, which dropped his season shooting percentage to 33%.’
This was a significant decline from the previous season when he made 44% of his threes and helped Alabama reach the Final Four for the first time in the school’s history.
But after this game, the slump was over
“I told Mark he’s playing chess, not checkers,” Oats said. “He set everyone up, making them think he was in a slump, and then came out shooting.”
The rest of the Crimson Tide followed suit.
The team, with its experience from previous deep tournament runs, continued its strong performance. Alabama attempted just 15 shots inside the arc, making 10 of them. As a team, they shot 53% from the field and made 18 of 21 free throws.
They also broke the record for 3-point attempts, surpassing the 46 shots taken by Texas Tech in their first-round win over UNC-Wilmington.
“We’ve been preparing all week to get our shot right,” Sears said. “The amount of preparation we put in led to the success we had tonight.”
Aden Holloway made six 3-pointers, Chris Youngblood hit five, and Alabama finished the game shooting 49% from beyond the arc. Their 25 three-pointers were the most in any game in Alabama’s program history.
“An open 3 is kind of a layup, so we’re happy with 77% of our shots coming from 3 today,” Holloway said.
Alabama’s previous 3-point record was 23, set against LSU in 2021. John Petty Jr. had twice made 10 threes, including a game against Samford in 2019.
BYU struggled with their shooting from beyond the arc, missing 24 of their 30 attempts.
The defense was solid but not perfect. “We don’t want to give up 3s,” Oats said. “Our defense did a decent job at times, but not at the level we need. We try to play sound basketball on both sides of the ball.”
The Crimson Tide relied heavily on three-pointers during their run to the Final Four last year. In an Elite Eight victory over Clemson, Sears made seven 3-pointers, and Alabama hit 16 from beyond the arc.
“If Duke or Arizona, or whoever ends up winning, decides they’re not going to give us some 3s, that’s fine, too,” Oats said. “Let’s get to the rim.”
