Nate Oats, Mark Sears break down game-winning play vs. Auburn

AUBURN, Ala. — Tie game. 14 seconds left. What more can you ask for in a basketball game?

That’s the situation Alabama found itself in on the road at No. 1 Auburn on Saturday afternoon. The Crimson Tide had battled with the nation’s top-ranked team all game, and had a chance to walk out of the building with a win.

None other than Mark Sears‘ number was called, and he ended the game with a buzzer-beating floater to give Alabama a 2-point win over its archrival to close the regular season.

ALABAMA BEATS AUBURN AT THE BUZZER IN OT🤯

(via ESPN)pic.twitter.com/Puiy2ItJxe

— On3 (@On3sports) March 8, 2025

Up to that point, it had been a pretty difficult night for Sears.

Alabama didn’t get a ton of production from its leading scorer and All-American candidate for the majority of the game, differing to some of the Tide’s big men who had huge games in Grant Nelson and Cliff Omoruyi. Before the game-winning shot, Sears had just seven points on 2-of-8 shooting.

“Mark, they were gonna make sure he didn’t get anything easy,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said after the game. “They did a good job on him defensively, but he stuck in there. Attitude was great, he played hard for us on defense, he had seven assists and only one turnover. When we needed him late, he came through and delivered, bailing me out because that play design wasn’t all that great to be honest with you. The thing that was great about it was it was in a pretty good player’s hands.”

While Oats thought it wasn’t the best play call, Sears gave his coach a little more credit.

“I think it was a good play call, because it caused a lot of confusion,” Sears said. “They didn’t know – earlier in the game they were switching everything guard-to-guard. So I did a quick handoff to Labaron, they didn’t switch, and I was able to get downhill with my left hand. I was able to get it off with enough time.”

The entire sequence was a complete 180-degree turn from how the Crimson Tide executed a late-game situation just a week ago. Last Saturday against Tennessee, Alabama choked away a 4-point lead with 30 seconds left, and ended up losing on a buzzer-beater after not being able to get a shot off on its final possession.

Oats blamed himself for much of the late-game collapse in Knoxville, and said the coaching staff worked to show improvement in that area today.

“The improvements were more from the coaching staff. I was really disappointed with how I personally got our guys through that last 30 seconds against Tennessee,” Oats said. “You use it, you learn, you talk through all different scenarios. Both side of the ball, who do you have in, tie game, who do you have in, up three when they need a three, you know. It wasn’t perfect, but at least we talked through it. We had some sets in mind that we wanted. The one we ended up running, tie game late with 14 seconds in overtime, was not necessarily one we’d been through, but I knew I wanted to get the ball in his hands and we got it there.”

Though the staff and team as a whole showed growth with the way it pulled out today’s win, Oats still believes there’s room to get better as they prepare for the rapidly approaching postseason.

“I thought we did a better job, but we still need to be better,” Oats said. “I need to be better for our guys, our guys have got to execute things a little bit better. Hopefully we take Monday and Tuesday in practice and go over some of these situations to be a lot better up in Nashville.”

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