Tag: mark sears

Everything Nate Oats said after Alabama’s home win vs. LSU

Here is everything Nate Oats said after Alabama’s win over LSU.

Even despite the Alabama Crimson Tide picking up an 80-73 win over the LSU Tigers on Saturday night inside Coleman Coliseum, one of the biggest talking points surrounding the game was not necessarily the win, but rather the status of Mark Sears.

The SEC’s leading scorer, Sears would finish the game scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting from the field, while also adding three rebounds and three assists. However, Alabama’s star guard did not play altogether in the second half, which left many inquiring on the status of Sears after the game.

As you’d likely expect, Alabama head coach Nate Oats was also asked about this as well during his postgame press conference Saturday night, along with a few other things.

“I’ll just say this, and I’m not going to talk anymore about the playing time stuff, we went with the guys in the second half that I thought gave us the best chance to win this game,” Oats said. “We won the game, and our defense was significantly better than the first half, and we haven’t done that very often this year. So that’s all I’m going to say about that stuff.”

“We just played the guys we thought gave us the best chance to win that second half,” Oats later added.

The complete press conference from Oats after the LSU win Saturday night can be found below:

Alabama G Mark Sears named SEC Co-Player of the Week

SEC names Crimson Tide guard Mark Sears as the Co-Player of the Week.

After dropping two early season nonconference games against Purdue and Oregon, the Alabama Crimson Tide have responded with eight straight wins including victories over No. 20 North Carolina, Creighton and No. 10 Texas A&M.

The Crimson Tide came in at No. 4 in this week’s AP Poll with the SEC holding five of the top eight spots. At 14-2 on the year and 3-0 in the SEC, fans of Alabama have to feel pretty good about the Crimson Tide’s early season results, but conference play will be an absolute gauntlet this year.

It goes without saying that Mark Sears, the Preseason National Player of the Year, has been instrumental in the Tide’s success this year. Last week Alabama picked up two key road wins in the SEC in a 20-point road victory vs. South Carolina and a top-ten win on the road against Texas A&M and Sears was a vital part of that.

Against the Gamecocks, Sears scored 22 points shooting 7/12 from the field with three rebounds and six assists. Sears was even better against A&M with 27 points, two rebounds and four assists in the win. As a result, Sears was named the SEC Co-Player of the week alongside Florida Gators guard Alex Condon who averaged 12.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.5 blocks in wins against No. 1 Tennessee and at Arkansas.

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Photo Gallery: Alabama basketball takes down Texas A&M for huge SEC road win

Alabama survived the Aggies for their first win in College Station since 2015. Here are the best photos from the Crimson Tide’s victory Saturday night.

The Alabama Crimson Tide went to College Station and earned an impressive — if not perfect — 94-88 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies in a Top 10 matchup at Reed Arena on Saturday night.

No. 5 Alabama’s first win at A&M since the end of the 2015 regular season was marred by whistle after whistle. Referee Don Daily’s crew called a total of 58 fouls in a game that saw the Crimson Tide take a 15-point lead in the second half and then have to hold on in the final two minutes as No. 9 A&M cut the lead to three with 1:27 to play.

Alabama survived by making six straight free throws in the final 36 seconds to close out their eighth straight victory.

Mark Sears led all scorers with a game-high 27 points, hitting seven of 18 shots from the field and going 4-of-10 from downtown. Sears’ first basket of the night didn’t come until 6:30 to play in the first half, a 3-pointer that gave Alabama its first double-digit lead at 35-25.

The Tide led 52-44 at halftime, making 10 3-pointers in the first half with Sears totaling three and Chris Youngblood and Aden Holloway adding a pair. Holloway finished the night with 15 points, and Youngblood added 14 as Nate Oats’ bench scored 40 points.

Alabama (14-2 overall, 3-0 SEC) remained undefeated in SEC play and will host the Ole Miss Rebels (14-2, 3-0) at Coleman Coliseum Tuesday. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

Here are some of the best photos from Alabama basketball’s first win in College Station in 10 years.

Alabama rolls past South Carolina in impressive road win behind Mark Sears

Mark Sears’ hot start helps push Alabama to 2-0 in SEC play.

Mark Sears and the fifth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide got hot early and took down the South Carolina Gamecocks, 88-68, Wednesday night at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.

Led by 16 first-half points from Sears, Alabama (13-2 overall) dominated the Gamecocks (10-5, 0-2 conference) for most of the night to improve to 2-0 in SEC play. Sears was a perfect 5-for-5 with 13 points in the first 10-plus minutes to start the game. He would go on to finish the night with 22 points.

Mo Dioubate gave Alabama its first double-digit lead when he drew a foul off a layup for a three-point play that made it 28-16 — part of a 14-2 Crimson Tide run capped by a Dioubate dunk.

Alabama kept the lead at double digits for the rest of the half. Chris Youngblood sank a 3-pointer to make it 42-24 with a minute to play, and Sears capped off his hot start with a 3-pointer from the corner for a 19-point lead — the largest of the half.

The Crimson Tide led 45-28 at intermission. They shot 60 percent from the field in the game’s first 20 minutes, making 18 of 30 shots overall, including 6-of-11 from behind the arc. Sears was a perfect 4-for-4 from downtown in the first half.

Nate Oats subbed out all five starters after Alabama allowed nine points in six possessions to open the second half. A livid Oats called a timeout and was halfway to mid-court to sternly lecture freshman Derrion Reid before the referees had finished blowing their whistles.

There wasn’t a whole lot else for Oats to complain about on this night, although Alabama fell into a three-minute scoring drought midway through the half as South Carolina whittled the lead to 15 with 6:30 to play.

But Alabama finished strong, with Sears finding Reid for an alley-oop dunk and a 79-58 dunk with 3:22 to play. Alabama’s 21-point lead was its largest of the game.

Sears had help from Aden Holloway, who scored nine of 10 points for Alabama at one point earlier in the second half. Holloway’s 13 points off the bench made him the Tide’s second leading scorer. Alabama got 10 points from Clifford Omoruyi, who briefly left the game in the first half after taking a shot to the eye.

Alabama’s bench outscored South Carolina’s, 39-4. The Tide closed the night shooting 54.7 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from downtown.

UP NEXT

The Crimson Tide will take on the No. 9 Texas A&M Aggies (12-2) Saturday night in College Station. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPN.

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Never a doubt: Alabama crushes Oklahoma in blowout to open SEC play

Alabama goes over 100 points and dominates Oklahoma in the SEC opener.

The Alabama Crimson Tide made sure the Oklahoma Sooners got a rude welcome to SEC play in front of a sellout crowd at Coleman Coliseum Saturday night.

The fifth-ranked Tide were firing on all cylinders in a 107-79 rout of the previously unbeaten and 10th-ranked Sooners, playing in their first head-to-head SEC basketball contest.

The Tide (12-2 overall, 1-0 SEC) won their conference opener by getting a complete-game, 40-minute effort in dominating fashion. Alabama had six players finish in double figures, including Mark Sears with 22 points and freshman Labaron Philon with 16.

Alabama led 48-29 at halftime, and the 28-point lead at the final buzzer tied their largest of the game.

The Tide got off to a strong start by taking a 17-10 lead in the first eight minutes of the night and went up by double digits when Sears made a perfect dish to Grant Nelson for a two-handed dunk with 8:14 to go in the half, putting Alabama ahead 27-15.

When Philon made his second 3-pointer of the half, it made it 30-16 for Alabama’s biggest lead to that point. The Crimson Tide would only stretch the lead from there.

Philon led the team with 10 points at halftime. Clifford Omoruyi had a big first half as well with eight points on 4-4 shooting to go with three rebounds and a block. Omoruyi, a Rutgers transfer, would finish the night with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Nelson finished with 12 points for Alabama, freshman Derrion Reid had 11, and Aden Holloway added 10. Holloway’s 3-pointer with 2:40 to play in the game got the Tide to the 100-point margin for the fourth time this season — and the second game in a row.

From the field, Alabama shot 50 percent (38-of-76) and was 9-for-29 from behind the arc. The Crimson Tide crushed the Sooners (13-1) on the boards all night, finishing with a 51-26 edge in rebounding. Alabama also dominated in bench points, 38-5.

Alabama schedule 2025

The Crimson Tide will head to Columbia to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks (10-4) at 6 p.m. CT Wednesday. South Carolina lost 85-50 at No. 16 Mississippi State on Saturday. Wednesday’s game will be televised on SEC Network.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Alabama news and notes, plus opinions. 

PHOTOS: Alabama basketball routs Kent State at Coleman Coliseum

Our best photos from Alabama’s 81-54 win over Kent State Sunday at Coleman Coliseum.

The sixth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide didn’t want another close call like the one they had earlier in the week at North Dakota.

No worries there. Alabama’s defense suffocated Kent State Sunday at Coleman Coliseum for an 81-54 victory.

The Crimson Tide (10-2 overall) held the Golden Flashes (8-3) to 28 percent shooting, including a 2-of-27 showing from three-point range. Mark Sears had 16 points to lead Alabama, which got 13 off the bench from Auburn transfer Aden Holloway.

The Crimson Tide led 39-24 at halftime and would go up by as many as 32 in the second half to shut the door on a Kent State team that owns the best overall record in the MAC standings.

RELATED: Alabama overcomes slow start, uses defense to suffocate Kent State

Alabama heads into its Christmas break with four straight wins and will return to Coleman Coliseum on Sunday, Dec. 29 when they welcome the South Dakota State Jackrabbits to Tuscaloosa for a 2 p.m. CT scheduled tipoff. The game can be seen on ESPN+.

Here are some of the best photos from Alabama’s rout of the Kent State Golden Flashes.

Instant Recap: Alabama overcomes slow start, uses defense to suffocate Kent State

Alabama started slow but had no trouble cruising to a win over Kent State. Here’s how it happened.

The Alabama Crimson Tide overcame another cold shooting start to defeat Kent State, 81-54, Sunday at Coleman Coliseum to head into the Christmas break with their fourth straight win.

Alabama (10-2 overall) never trailed in the game, but the sixth-ranked Crimson Tide’s slow start included three turnovers and an 0-for-7 mark from downtown in the game’s first four minutes. Alabama would miss its first eight shots and go over four minutes without a field goal.

Good thing Kent State (8-3) was just as cold. Alabama played suffocating defense, holding the Golden Flashes to just 2-for-21 shooting in the game’s first 11 minutes. The Crimson Tide would lead by as many as 18 in the half after Mark Sears made a deep 3-pointer from the top of the key for a 30-12 lead.

Alabama led 39-24 at halftime and was +19 off the glass and +7 on turnovers. The Tide’s defense held Kent State to just 23 percent shooting from the field: 9-of-39, including 1-of-15 from downtown. By contrast, Alabama made 39 percent of its first-half shots but were only 2-of-17 from three-point range.

In the second half, Alabama stretched its lead to 19 after Clifford Omoruyi’s jumper put the Crimson Tide ahead 52-33 with 10:34 to play. Two free throws from Sears made it 54-33 as Alabama went up by 20 points for the first time in the game.

With Kent State in a 1-for-13 shooting slump, Houston Mallette’s jumper put Alabama up 60-35 heading into the under-8 timeout. Alabama led by 29 after a pair of 3-pointers from Aden Holloway and one from Labaron Philon with 4:52 to play.

The Tide would go on to lead by as many as 32 after Holloway made a long-range 3-pointer with just over a minute left.

Sears finished with 16 points to lead Alabama. Holloway added 13 points off the bench as the Crimson Tide shot 45 percent from the field and 9-of-35 from downtown.

Alabama’s defense held Kent State to 28 percent from the field and just 2-of-27 from three-point range. The 54 points scored by the Golden Flashes were tied for the fewest allowed by Alabama all season. Nate Oats’ team out-rebounded Kent State, 60-40, and won the turnover battle, 19-11.

Alabama basketball 2024-25 schedule

Alabama will face South Dakota State (9-5) to close out nonconference play next Sunday at Coleman Coliseum. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT. The game can be seen on ESPN+.

Assessing Alabama’s national championship hopes after grueling non-conference schedule

Can Alabama basketball make a legitimate run at the 2024-25 national championship?

The Alabama Crimson Tide have two games remaining in their non-conference portion of the 2024-25 schedule after narrowly beating the North Dakota Fighting Hawks on the road Wednesday evening. The Tide will wrap up the month with home games against Kent State and South Dakota State before opening up SEC play against the No. 14 Oklahoma Sooners on Jan. 4 in Tuscaloosa.

Head coach Nate Oats has made it a massive priority to play the toughest non-conference schedule possible to test his teams for the post-season, and so far it’s paid dividends as Alabama earned the No. 1 overall seed in March Madness in 2023 and made the Final Four in 2024.

Alabama is currently ranked No. 6 in the country at 9-2 on the year with their only two losses coming against No. 16 Purdue on the road and vs No. 10 Oregon in the Players Era Festival Tournament Championship. However, the Tide do have some of the most impressive wins of the early part of the season against Illinois, Houston, North Carolina and Creighton.

With five teams ranked inside of the top seven and eight total teams in the top 25, the SEC is without a doubt the deepest conference in the country. I do believe that Alabama’s gauntlet of a non-conference schedule as well as their depth will be a massive advantage in the race for the conference title because I don’t think anyone will be running the table in a league this good. By the time March rolls around, an already veteran Crimson Tide team will also be the most battle tested team in the country.

To the surprise of none, Grant Nelson and Mark Sears have paved the way for the Tide, but Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway are quickly emerging as key pieces for Oats. Losing Latrell Wrightsell to a season ending injury obviously hurts a lot, but Alabama has other pieces to overcome it.

March Madness is all about who’s hot at the right time, but Alabama will have all of the pieces to make a legit national title run. There are still things to clean up as the Crimson Tide surrender nearly 80 points per game and average 12.7 turnovers a game. Alabama has also struggled a little bit more on the road this year so that will be something to monitor as conference play starts, but their high octane offense will be a problem for any team in the nation.

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Instant Recap: Alabama survives massive upset bid at North Dakota for close road win

Alabama survives North Dakota. Here’s how it happened.

The Alabama Crimson Tide got a much tougher fight than anyone expected Wednesday night in the state of North Dakota.

Pushed to the brink by a career-high 40 points from North Dakota shooting guard Treysen Eaglestaff, Alabama survived with a 97-90 win in nonconference play over the Fighting Hawks at Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Forks.

Thirteen first-half Alabama turnovers gave North Dakota a shocking 38-35 halftime lead over the No. 6 team in the nation. That included a 3-of-10 start from the field by Alabama in the game’s first seven minutes. UND jumped out to an 11-6 lead they would eventually stretch to nine on one of Eaglestaff’s many 3-pointers.

In the second half, the Tide started to roll by taking a 58-47 lead as part of a 13-0 run that included a steal and a dunk from freshman Labaron Philon.

It was nothing short of fitting that home state product Grant Nelson — the main reason for Alabama’s trip to Grand Forks — was a big reason for the Tide’s second-half surge. Nelson would finish the night tied for the team-high in points with 23, including a dunk with 8:40 to play in regulation.

Even so, closing out the Fighting Hawks proved to be an all-but-impossible task for Nelson and the Crimson Tide.

North Dakota refused to go away and tied the game at 78-78 with just over four minutes to play. But after Eli King drained a 3-pointer that tied it at 85-all with two minutes to go, Nelson put Alabama back ahead for good on a jump shot before adding a pair of clutch free throws to extend the lead to 89-85.

Nelson, who transferred to Alabama from North Dakota State ahead of the 2023-24 season, got the rebound when Eaglestaff missed from downtown with just over a minute to play. He also got the offensive board when Mark Sears missed what would have been a dagger from 3-point range, forcing North Dakota to begin fouling.

Mo Dioubate sank four foul shots in the final minute to help Alabama close out the victory. Nelson added 10 rebounds as part of a double-double, and Sears finished with 23 points on 7-of-14 shots from the field to help the Tide survive what would have been the biggest upset of the year in college basketball.

Eaglestaff’s 40 points for North Dakota included eight 3-pointers. He finished the night 15-of-30 from the field .

With the win, Alabama improved to 9-2 overall. North Dakota fell to 4-9 but will feel better about their chances in Summit League play after taking the No. 6 team in the country down to the wire.

RELATED: Instant reactions to Alabama’s close victory at North Dakota

Alabama basketball schedule 2024-25

The Crimson Tide return to Coleman Coliseum to face the Kent State Golden Flashes (8-2) Sunday. Tipoff is scheduled for noon CT. The game will be televised on SEC Network.

Instant recap: Alabama basketball survives tough challenge from Creighton

Alabama survives Creighton. Here’s how it happened.

Led by Mark Sears’ game-high 27 points, the Alabama Crimson Tide finally ended the “Creighton curse” Saturday night with an 83-75 victory over the Bluejays at Coleman Coliseum.

Alabama’s first game in Tuscaloosa in 33 days was far from an easy one. The Crimson Tide (8-2 overall) led by as many as 17 points in the first half, then had to hold on tight to close things out.

Nate Oats’ team started well, hitting five of its first eight shots for an early 13-5 lead in the first six minutes after Sears converted a layup off a mismatch underneath — part of a 9-0 Alabama run.

The Tide’s hot start continued when Labaron Philon converted an easy layup off a turnover and made another basket underneath to make it 24-10. Alabama  stretched the lead to 17 when Sears was left open on a deep 3-pointer to make it 27-10, an 11-0 Crimson Tide spurt as Creighton went almost 5:30 without a basket.

But Alabama hit a cold-shooting spell late in the opening half to allow Creighton (7-4) to make it a 10-point game with under four minutes. The Crimson Tide led 37-31 at halftime after closing the first half by making just one of their last 14 shots.

Alabama went up by 13 in the second half when freshman Derrion Reid’s dunk made it 65-52 with 6:40 to play. Reid would go on to finish with 12 points, his third game in four nights in double figures.

Creighton cut the lead to 10 with 4:30 left and slowly continued to chip away. When Jackson McAndrew converted a four-point play with 24 seconds left, the Bluejays trailed by just four at 79-75.

Alabama closed out the game from the free-throw line as Sears made all four attempts from the charity stripe. In addition to Sears’ 27 points, Philon finished with 16. Alabama shot 43 percent from the field (30-of-70) and only 20 percent (six-of-30) from behind the arc.

The Crimson Tide had been winless in three previous meetings against Creighton, including a loss in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament and last season’s 85-82 loss in Omaha.

Alabama basketball schedule 2024-25

The Crimson Tide will face the North Dakota Fighting Hawks (4-7) in Grand Forks, N.D., on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.