Nate Oats, teammates praise Mark Sears for his leadership on scoreless night

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – For only the second time in his storied college career, Alabama guard Mark Sears was held scoreless on Wednesday night. But the No. 8-ranked Crimson Tide was still able to score 100 points and beat No. 25 Illinois, 100-87, in the CM Newton Classic.

The last time that happened was Sears’ freshman year at Ohio against the same opponent.

Sears shot 0-for-5 from the field, including 0-for-4 from 3-point range, in 21 minutes against the Fighting Illini and spent the last 11:27 on the bench. But the All-American didn’t pout. Grant Nelson, who led Alabama with 23 points, said he deferred to his teammates.

“It showed a lot of Mark’s leadership tonight,” Nelson said. “In the huddle, he kind of subbed himself out just because he saw guys were playing well, and he knew guys could come in and our depth at the guard spot. So I think that shows a lot of leadership.”

Alabama (4-1) received strong performances from several other guards on Wednesday night at Legacy Arena. Aden Holloway scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-4 from three, while Labaron Philon and Latrell Wrightsell each contributed 16 points. Philon led the team with 32 minutes and also recorded seven rebounds and nine assists.

The trio scored 10 of the Tide’s final 14 points as Alabama flexed its depth, particularly at the guard position, and bounced back after losing on the road at now-No. 6 Purdue last week.

“Just playing off each other and just playing in a flow, being able to play both offense and defense,” Philon said. “… Latrell and Biz, they’re really good shooters, but they really can get in the paint, and once they get in the paint, it’s probably over for anybody in the country because those guys are so crafty.”

Sears entered Wednesday’s contest averaging 17.3 points per game and had scored in double figures in each of Alabama’s first four games. Last year, the guard only produced single-digit points once (9 vs. Missouri) as he led the Crimson Tide to its first-ever Final Four. 

But when he struggled on Wednesday night, the veteran told his coach to play the hot hand.

“There’s a lot of pressure on him, obviously, being a home-state kid that came back,” said Alabama head coach Nate Oats. “He’s the preseason player of the year, and he’s trying to do well. Teams are gearing their defense toward him. He had some good looks tonight; they just didn’t go.”

Oats corroborated Nelson’s recount of what happened on Alabama’s bench versus Illinois.

“I took him out to kind of let him get his head together a little bit, and I tried to put him back in and he just said, ‘Look, they’re playing well,’” Oats said.

“I’ll be honest with you, it’s similar to what Herb Jones has done before. We’ve had some really good players here that have just kind of been unselfish enough and want to win bad enough to just say, ‘Hey, let the guys go. They’re playing really well. Leave them in.’ 

“So that’s what I did. I tried to put him back in the middle of that 11 minutes, but he said leave these guys. They were playing pretty well. He was right, so we left them in, and they went on a run and won it. 

“I’m sure he’ll bounce back against Houston.”

Not a member, Alabama fans? Join BOL today!

Have you subscribed to BamaOnLine.com yet? You can sign up for ONE MONTH of premium access to our Alabama coverage for just $11.99! Be able to read all of BOL’s premium articles and nuggets covering Alabama sports and recruiting and also join thousands of other Crimson Tide fans around the globe on the BOL Round Table message board! CLICK HERE!