Alabama smokes BYU with record shooting, advances to second straight Elite Eight

NEWARK, N.J. — No. 2 seed Alabama shot out of its mind against No. 6 seed BYU in the Sweet 16, making a program and NCAA Tournament record number of threes on the way to a 113-88 victory.

The win advances Alabama to the Elite Eight for the second year in a row and just the third time in school history.

Alabama went with its usual starting lineup, rolling out Labaron Philon, Mark Sears, Chris Youngblood, Grant Nelson and Cliff Omoruyi to begin the game.

HOW IT HAPPENED

As expected, the game got off to a rapid-fire start offensively. The Crimson Tide went up 4-0 on the first few possessions, and BYU answered immediately with a 9-0 run to take the lead back. By the game’s first media timeout, the Cougars held a slim 13-12 lead.

The best news for Alabama in the first few minutes of the game was Sears seeing a three go down. He came into the game having made just three of his last 25 attempts from deep, but had five points on 2-of-3 shooting in the opening frame.

The threes kept falling at a high rate early on for the Tide. It retook the lead with an onslaught from downtown, making seven of its first 14 attempts. Despite the hot shooting it was having little success on the defensive end of the floor, holding a slim 27-25 lead at the under-12 timeout.

Oats made a defensive-minded decision after that timeout, deploying a lineup of Philon, Nelson, Omoruyi, Mo Dioubate and Derrion Reid in order to get a few stops. It worked, and Alabama built its lead a little bit headed into the under-8, going up 35-30.

The Crimson Tide kept taking wide open three after wide open three as BYU was determined to keep Alabama out of the paint, packing its defense in and giving space on the perimeter. By the end of the first half Alabama made 12-of-27 shots from downtown, a blistering 44 percent.

The amount of threes it hit combined with some well-timed stops towards the end of the half aided Alabama in taking a double-digit lead to the locker room, up 51-40 on the Cougars at the break. Sears was the start of the first 20 minutes, scoring 17 points and dishing five assists.

Alabama came out in the second half having to adjust to a little more physicality from BYU while running its offense, but still found plenty of success. The Tide outscored the Cougars 12-7 over the first few minutes of the second half, with Sears knocking down two more threes to extend Alabama’s lead to 63-47.

BYU didn’t got away that easily, though. The Cougars went on an 8-0 run out of the timeout to quickly get back in the game, and the officials got extremely whistle-happy on both ends of the floor. BYU got the lead as low as seven points, but some big-time plays from Aden Holloway pushed Alabama’s lead back to 14 as we hit the under-12.

Alabama kept extending its lead, and it became a 3-point contest. The Crimson Tide knocked down open look after open look, with the majority of them coming from Sears and Holloway. Sears hit Alabama’s 22nd three of the game with 7:41 to go in the game, breaking the record for most threes made in an NCAA Tournament game.

After that three, Alabama held a 97-76 lead at the under-8 timeout.

At that point, the game was over. But the Tide made more history with its 24th made from downtown for the game right before the under-4 timeout, setting a new program record. At the under-4 the Tide held a 103-83 lead, and cruised to the final buzzer and the next round.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Mark Sears — 34 points, 8 assists, 10-of-16 3PT

Aden Holloway — 24 points, 2 assists

Chris Youngblood — 19 points, 3 rebounds

WHAT’S NEXT

Alabama has advanced to the Elite Eight on Saturday, where it will face the winner of 1-seed Duke and 4-seed Arizona for a spot in the Final Four. The tipoff time and TV network is currently TBD.

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