Mark Sears and Alabama Just Kept Shooting to Reach Final Four
Through the first 12 minutes of Saturday night's West Region final it looked like Alabama was going to be the latest victim of Clemson's tremendous perimeter defense and fall short in its quest to make the first Final Four in school history. The Crimson Tide started 1-for-13 from three-point range and 5-for-22 overall as the Tigers jumped out to a 26-13 lead in Los Angeles. Nate Oats watched as his star guard Mark Sears misfired on his first six attempts from beyond the arc.
But the Crimson Tide never wavered. They stuck to their uptempo, exciting offensive attack and kept hoisting. Aaron Estrada and Jarin Stevenson teamed up to make Alabama's next four shots, creating a quick 11 points and cutting the deficit down to 26-24. Less than a minute later Sears broke the seal on the basket with a layup and the offensive blitz was fully on. When it was all over the Tide has used 54 second-half points to outlast Clemson in a shootout, 89-82.
Not one of those 89 points came from the mid-range. Oats's team connected on 16 of 36 three-pointers (44.4 percent), made 15 free throws and collected 26 points in the paint. Sears, who was only 2-for-11 at the half, nailed seven of his last eight shots — six of them from deep — to finish with a game-high 23 points. Stevenson, just a freshman, contributed a career-high 19 points and made five three-pointers. Senior Nick Pringle added 16 points and 11 rebounds.
There is no team in the country Alabama cannot run with for 40 minutes. Their reward for ripping through Charleston, Grand Canyon, North Carolina and now Clemson is a date with UConn. It'll be the tallest of tasks. But we do know that Sears and his teammates do not have a conscience and will continue to take dead aim even if they aren't getting results.
That makes them dangerous and it portends a thrilling matchup in Phoenix next Saturday. The Tide have beaten multiple different styles of opponents already on the biggest stage and won't be fazed.
Kyle Koster is an editor at The Big Lead.
