Alabama is tough to beat when Mark Sears passes the ball like he did vs. Mississippi State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Forget scoring 20 or more points for a 15th time this year. Marks Sears really wanted to reach 10 assists for his second double-double of his final college season.

During a timeout, Sears found the inspiration for his 10th assist of the night.

“You know who to find,” Chris Youngblood told him.

Shortly after Alabama returned to the court at Coleman Coliseum, Sears found Youngblood, who knocked down his seventh 3-pointer of the game. The bucket gave the Crimson Tide a 90-55 lead over Mississippi State with 7:08 to play. Alabama would go on to win, 111-73.

Three of Sears’ 10 assists ended up in Youngblood’s ready-to-shoot hands. The latter scored a career-high 27 points in just 19 minutes of action. In two games against the Bulldogs this year, Youngblood has scored 50 total points on a combined 14-of-21 from beyond the arc.

“It’s easy when I’ve got shooters like CY,” Sears said. “If they wanna help, that’s easy. One simple pass, they’re gonna knock it down every time. It’s real easy when I’ve got shooters like CY.”

Sears had a big night scoring the ball, too, finishing with 21 points against Mississippi State for his 15th game with 20-plus points this year. He has averaged 28.7 points per game in his last three outings, including back-to-back 30-point games against Missouri and Kentucky. 

The SEC Player of the Week last week, Sears is starting to look like his old self down the final stretch of the regular season. But his passing is what has elevated his game to another level. In his last three games, Sears has 19 total assists compared to just nine turnovers.

“I’m really good when he’s distributing like this,” head coach Nate Oats said. “And I’ve been telling you guys, he’s been playing his best basketball of his career on both sides. For him to have a positive defensive leverage, that hasn’t always been the case. When he just gets locked into getting stops, doing winning things, doesn’t care who scores.

“… He was happy. He was happy CY scored 27. We talk about ‘Mudita.’ I thought Sears was really happy for everybody else that was able to get in the scoring column, and he was able to get some assists. We definitely will show highlights of this.”

Tuesday night was the second time this season that Sears has posted 10 or more assists in a single game. The last time was another impressive home win for Alabama, when the fifth-year senior point guard posted 22 points and 11 rebounds in a 107-79 against Oklahoma.

When Sears is facilitating like he did against the Bulldogs, the Tide is hard to top. Alabama is 9-0 in games where Sears finishes with seven or more assists. Six of those wins have come this season, including a dominant showing against Mississippi State in Tuscaloosa.

“He’s playing at an elite level right now, not just tonight but in some previous games,” said State head coach Chris Jans of Sears. “He’s doing it both, when he’s scoring the basketball, when he’s driving the basketball for himself. But then when he’s finding others, it makes him and them very, very difficult to defend.”

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