Alabama needs Mark Sears to be 'more than just a scorer' in March

Mark Sears enters March Madness in a bit of a slump.

Alabama’s All-American guard had a 5-game stretch from February 19 to March 5 – all against ranked opponents – where he averaged 28 points per game. That stretch featured three games with 30 or more points. But in his last three outings, Sears is averaging just 10.3.

A 33.8 percent shooter from 3-point range this season, Sears has only made four 3-pointers on 26 attempts in his last four games (15.2%) dating back to a loss at home loss to Florida.

After spending this past week in Nashville for the SEC Tournament, Nate Oats hopes that being able to use Coleman Coliseum as much as he wants will help Sears get back on track.

“We’ll be back here in our home gym,” Oats said. “I’m sure he’ll get shots up. He’s a guy that needs to be in the gym, getting his confidence up. So that’ll be a big factor, just being able to get in the gym.”

Sears is a “gym rat,” so Oats has no doubt he will be putting in plenty of work before Alabama’s first-round NCAA Tournament matchup with Robert Morris. The sixth-year head coach is also not sweating Sears’ last three games, as the Crimson Tide is 2-1 with wins over Auburn, which saw the veteran guard hit the game-winning shot, and Kentucky in Nashville.

“It’s not like he’s lost his shot,” Oats said. “When you’re as skilled as he is and you just lose yourself in the game – playing the right way on the defensive end, giving really good effort on the defensive end, playing the right way on the offensive end – the shooting will take care of itself. 

“To me, it’s also an opportunity for Mark to prove he impacts the game on more than just shooting. How much can you impact the game? Can we win when you’re not shooting it particularly well? And if you look at these last four games when he hasn’t maybe shot the ball particularly well, we do have two pretty good wins.”

Sears is Alabama’s leading scorer with 18.7 points per game. He’s also averaging more assists (4.9 apg) than any of his previous four seasons of college basketball. The Muscle Shoals native has been better about getting his teammates involved while cutting down on turnovers, which is something Oats and the Crimson Tide coaches have emphasized with him.

In order for Alabama to make another NCAA Tournament run, it will need its guards to step up after being outplayed by Florida in the SEC Tournament semifinal. That starts with Sears.

“He’s gotta understand that, yeah, he’s a scorer and he’s elite at it – one of the best that’s ever done it here at Alabama. But he’s more than just a scorer,” Oats said. “I just went back and watched the game on our bus ride here from Nashville. I thought he made a lot of really good reads, and we just missed some shots. He didn’t end up with a high assist game last game, but we missed open shots, some of his teammates. He was making good reads. 

“He’s a great defender when he wants to be. He can make the right reads. He can run a team. He can be a lot more than just a scorer to impact winning, and he needs to realize that. I think if he just buys all into that, the scoring and the shooting will take care of itself with the amount of time he’s gonna be able to get in the gym now that we’re back home.”

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