Mark Sears emotional on Alabama bench, not yet played in second half vs. LSU

Alabama is in a bigger fight than originally hoped against LSU on Saturday. Matt McMahon‘s team has been fighting in Tuscaloosa with the hopes of pulling off a big-time upset. But throughout the second half, Alabama has been playing without Mark Sears.

Not starting coming out of the halftime locker room is highly unusual for Sears and through the under-12 media timeout, he has yet to come off the bench. The SEC Network broadcast even Sears getting emotional on the sideline while attempting to support teammates.

“Mark Sears looks emotional on the bench for Alabama,” AL.com’s Michael Casagrande said via X. “Hasn’t played all second half and was scoreless in the first. Tide up 63-58 on LSU with 10:44 left.”

Sears did get a lot of playing time in the first game, being on the court for 17 minutes. One of the nation’s best scorers was held to zero points though, missing all five of his shot attempts — two of which were behind the three-point line.

Alabama is going to have to close out LSU from Coleman Coliseum down the stretch. Whether or not Sears gets on the court, we will have to wait and see. Based on his sideline emotions, there might be a chance he is done for the night. An update might be needed during postgame press conferences.

Nate Oats gives glaring review of Mark Sears after breaking 2,500 career points

Nate Oats knows just what a valuable player Mark Sears has been for Alabama over the past three seasons. But just in case anyone else needed a reminder, Sears earned a piece of college basketball history Tuesday night against Vanderbilt.

With 21 points in a 103-87 win against the Commodores, Sears surpassed 2,500 points for his college basketball career. Speaking in a postgame press conference, Oats raved about the impact that Sears has had for the Crimson Tide.

“On the offensive end, he’s been as consistent of a guy as I’ve probably ever coached,” the coach said. “Pretty much every game, no matter how it starts, he ends up with 20 somehow. He did it again tonight and he ends up with 21. So when you’re scoring about 20 every night out and you get as many games as he’s played, I think he’s the 82nd player in all of Division I history with 2,500 career points. That puts him in some pretty good company. So congrats to Mark.”

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this report