‘We’re going to rain them’: The game plan behind Alabama’s record-setting NCAA tournament win over BYU

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NEWARK, N.J. — On a record-setting night for Alabama, Nate Oats invoked the name of one of basketball’s most-heralded offensive minds.

“Everybody questions whether we had the defense to win. For some reason nobody was talking about our offense, though,” the Alabama head coach said following Alabama’s 113-88 demolition of BYU in the Sweet 16. “We’ve gotten to know Mike D’Antoni a little bit. He made the point, your offense only has to be one point in efficiency better than your defense to win the game.”

With all due respect to D’Antoni and the seven-seconds-or-less mantra, what Alabama did on Thursday night was jaw-dropping, as Mark Sears, Aden Holloway and Chris Youngblood hit 21 of an NCAA tournament-record 25 3-pointers in the regional semifinal. Sears alone hit a career-best 10, en route to a game-high 34 points and sending the Crimson Tide to the Elite Eight for the second straight year — a first for the Alabama men’s basketball program.

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What’s even more remarkable is Sears — the leading scorer on the nation’s most prolific offense — entered Thursday’s game shooting just 5-for-35 from distance in his previous six games.

Before the Sweet 16, Oats said he offered the fifth-year senior a bit of a math lesson.

“I told Sears there’s a thing called regression to the mean,” Oats said. “He’s not a 14 percent shooter, obviously.”

Alabama guard Mark Sears had a career night against BYU and the Crimson Tide set several NCAA tournament records on Thursday. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Sears didn’t just regress to the mean on Thursday, he did a full 180-degree turn on his recent shooting slump and powered Alabama to its ninth 100-plus point game of the season.

“I told Mark he’s playing chess, not checkers, he just kind of set everybody up with that 5-of-35 thinking he was in a slump and he’s going to come out and shoot — 63 percent ain’t bad,” Oats said.

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Algebra, geometry, chess nor checkers can’t…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/college-basketball/article/were-going-to-rain-them-the-game-plan-behind-alabamas-record-setting-ncaa-tournament-win-over-byu-035206146.html

Author : Anthony Sulla-Heffinger

Publish date : 2025-03-28 03:52:00

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