NEWARK, N.J. — Call it good offense or bad defense.
The Alabama Crimson Tide simply don’t care how you refer to it, as long as the ball continues to go in the basket, and it most certainly did on Thursday night.
Alabama hit an NCAA men’s tournament record 25 three-pointers in a 113-88 rout of Brigham Young in the Sweet 16 of the East Regional, and moved one game away from a second Final Four berth in a row. The previous record was 21, set by Loyola Marymount against Michigan in 1990.
The Tide entered the contest averaging nearly 40 points in the paint in the regular season and used that style of play in victories over Robert Morris and Saint Mary’s, while leading all tournament teams in rim rate.
But head coach Nate Oats quickly threw out that game plan from the opening tip as BYU defenders were helpless to stop the onslaught from beyond the arc, consistently leaving shooting open to fire at will once past half court.
Mark Sears unloaded his entire arsenal of playmaking, hitting 10 three-pointers and scoring 34 points, using the majority of his eight assists to feed open teammates. He swished the record-breaking 22nd 3-pointer with 7:31 left to make the score 97-76.
The only other player to hit 10 3s in the regional round was Purdue’s Carsen Edwards against Virginia, in the 2019 South Regional Final.
‘I told Sears there’s a thing called regression to the mean,’ Oats said. ‘His last six games he was shooting 14 percent, 5 of 35. He’s not a 14 percent shooter, obviously. They had been going under ball screens just about every game we watched. I told both those guys, (Aden) Holloway and Sears, man, I hope they go under us because we’re going to rain them.’
Aden Holloway hit six threes of his own and finished with 23 points and Chris Youngblood added 21 points on 5-11 shooting from 3-point land as Alabama shot 53% for the game.
‘Even when I was shooting 14 percent, my confidence was still high,’ said Sears, a first-team All-American. ‘I never stopped doubting myself and stopped believing in myself, and my teammates kept encouraging me to keep shooting it, keep shooting it, keep shooting it. That just shows trust in them that even though when I’m not at my highest peak, they still trust me and want me to shoot the ball.’
BYU, which hasn’t reached a regional final since 1981, kept the game close by turning its offense into a virtual layup line, with little resistance from the Crimson Tide defense, but it was not enough. The Cougars had 44 points in the paint and kept the game close when outside shots were not falling.
Richie Saunders had 25 points, Egor Demin added 15 for the Cougars, who simply couldn’t slow the game down even though they entered the foul bonus with more the 13 minutes left in the second half. While Alabama was setting records from beyond the arc, BYU hit only six of its 30 attempts.
Holloway’s sixth three-pointer of the night gave Alabama an 18-point lead with 9:28 left, effectively ending the competitive part of the game.
‘Sears made shots when we went under. We were trying to show a crowd,’ BYU coach Kevin Young said. ‘He was able to punish those crowds early. We felt like it would be hard for them to sustain that, and so that’s where you have to give them credit because they did. That’s where I’m disappointed at myself for not being able to find a solution. But some nights you’re trying everything, and it doesn’t seem to work.’
Extra points
Sears finished one 3-pointer shy of the all-time single-game NCAA Tournament record set by Loyola Marymount against Michigan in 1990. Four other players have hit 10 three-pointers in a tournament game.
Alabama’s 51 3-point attempts are the most of any team in any NCAA game. The previous record was Saint Joseph’s, which had 43 attempts against Boston College in 1997.
‘Like it shows their work ethic, shows how good Alabama is as a program, and kind of went their way tonight,’ BYU guard Trevin Knell said. It would be awesome to hopefully play them again, but you can’t at the end of the season. Hope they have tremendous luck, and congrats on their game today.’