John Fanta
School Basketball Broadcaster and Reporter
NEWARK, N.J. — With just below eight minutes left on the clock on the Prudential Heart, Mark Sears let it fly from downtown and despatched these in crimson right into a frenzy.
Sears had buried Alabama’s twenty second 3-pointer of the evening, a brand new NCAA Males’s Basketball Event document, and all BYU head coach Kevin Younger might do was watch. He tried to cease the bleeding with timeouts and tried a number of completely different defensive appears to be like within the second half, however a Crimson Tide group that shot 25-of-51 from downtown wouldn’t be denied.
Sears completed with a game-high 34 factors, together with 10 3-pointers and eight assists, as Alabama clinched its second straight journey to the Elite Eight with a commanding 113-88 victory over the Cougars on Thursday evening.
By burying 25 triples, Alabama broke Loyola Marymount’s earlier Massive Dance document of 21 made triples set in a 1990 second-round win over Michigan, whereas additionally smashing the event single-game document with 51 makes an attempt.
In a battle of top-10 offenses, Alabama started the sport at a track-meet tempo and BYU might by no means gradual the Crimson Tide down. Sears was the star, ending three factors shy of his career-high on 10-of-16 capturing from downtown. After making simply three of his final 25 from downtown getting into Thursday’s sport, Sears instructed the media on Wednesday that he wasn’t involved about his latest capturing struggles. The truth is, he put in additional time this week by attending all of Alabama’s optionally available capturing periods.
“I instructed (Mark) Sears there is a factor known as regression to the imply,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats mentioned following his group’s historic win. “They (BYU) had been going beneath ball screens nearly each sport we watched, so I instructed each these guys, (Aden) Holloway and (Mark) Sears, ‘I hope they go beneath us as a result of we will rein them. We have been within the health club final evening, the evening earlier than. These guys present up for voluntary capturing each time it is accessible to ensure that they’re able to go, and that work pays off. We need to base our program on onerous work.
“I instructed Mark, he is taking part in chess, not checkers.”
On Thursday evening, with a spot within the Elite Eight on the road, it was checkmate after checkmate for Sears towards BYU.
“I used to be simply in a zone,” Sears mentioned. “As soon as I noticed the primary 3 fall in, I felt the basket was as massive as an ocean. And each time I shot I felt prefer it was stepping into. I simply misplaced myself within the sport and let the whole lot else occur.”
The fifth-year guard confirmed America that when he is on his A-game, there is not any higher guard within the nation. And the Crimson Tide confirmed that they’ve the DNA to win this regional, whether or not it is Duke or Arizona on the opposite facet.
Whereas Sears was the hero, Holloway performed the Robin position completely, ending with 23 factors whereas capturing 7-of-14 from downtown.. Simply when BYU seemed to be making a run, reducing it to 68-61 with simply over 13 minutes left, the Auburn switch splashed a few triples.
“It was an ideal storm for them, simply because I feel the 3-point line will be very paralyzing, and we play an analogous type,” mentioned BYU head coach Kevin Younger, who led the Cougars to their first Candy 16 since 2011. “I am disenchanted at myself for not with the ability to discover a resolution. However some nights you attempt the whole lot, and it does not appear to work. That is a very good basketball group. I imply, it was an all-time evening for them. It felt like there was nothing we might do at occasions.”
Alabama’s efficiency shall be remembered as among the best offensive performances in NCAA Event historical past. The Crimson Tide dominated a Cougars group that had gained 11 of its final 12 video games, overwhelming them from tip to buzzer by capturing 53% from the sphere and outscoring the Cougars, who went 6-of-30 from downtown, by 57 factors from past the arc.
John Fanta is a nationwide school basketball broadcaster and author for FOX Sports activities. He covers the game in a wide range of capacities, from calling video games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Community to offering commentary on The Area of 68 Media Community. Observe him at @John_Fanta.
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