Nate Oats reacts to historic Mark Sears performance, Alabama record night vs. BYU

The No. 2 seed Alabama Crimson Tide delivered a historic performance on Thursday night, torching the nets in their 113-88 thrashing of the No. 6 BYU Cougars. The Tide advanced to the Elite Eight in pretty comfortable fashion, even though the Cougars actually played pretty well. It was just that Alabama and Mark Sears simply could not miss from beyond-the-arc. It had to make Tide head coach Nate Oats smile ear-to-ear.

The Crimson Tide drained 25 total three-pointers once the smoke had cleared, giving them the most threes in an NCAA Tournament Game. Following the performance, Alabama head coach Nate Oats spoke with Allie LaForce about the record-setting performance for his team.

“I mean, listen, Mark, everybody’s saying he’s struggling. He’s 5 of 35 in six games. I told him he’s playing chess. Just set everybody up. They’re gonna go under every screen. How many threes did he end up with tonight?” Oats said.

“Well, we had some other guys making some threes…He can still shoot, I assure everybody. He set everybody up with that display. The way we shot it tonight. I mean, obviously, we’re not gonna shoot like that all the time. We gotta lock in on defense. We had too many defensive struggles. We’ve gotta be better against Duke. When you get 51 [threes] off, might make a few. Great job by our guys. They came ready to go. I’m proud of them,” Oats explained.

“Whether it’s Duke or whether it’s Arizona, they’re both really good. So, we’re gonna need a few threes on Saturday,” Oats finished.

Mark Sears was unconscious on Thursday, draining 10 threes, pouring in 34 points, dishing out eight assists, and grabbing three rebounds. “You know, over the last few games, I’ve been struggling from three. And it’s a perfect example to go out there and let a couple go in. Especially how they were playing us in the first half,” Sears explained.

Nate Oats was still never satisfied, letting his players know that the Cougars were still a dangerous offense. “They were such an explosive offense. He was preaching that they could score 20 points in a matter of minutes. And we just didn’t want to let that happen. So, we were able to get some stops,” Sears finished.

Just how ridiculous was the performance from Alabama on Thursday evening? According to Chris Fallica of FOX, the Crimson Tide are the first team to score 100 in a Sweet 16 game since North Carolina beat Indiana 101-86 in 2016. The 113 points are the most in a Sweet 16 game since seeding began in 1979 and the most by five points since the field expanded in 1985.

The No. 2 seed Alabama Crimson Tide will square off against the No. 1 seed Duke Blue Devils on Saturday night. For tip-times and more information, you can find that here.