Alabama Basketball Gets Big Play From Sears, Burnett Against Jax State

Transfer guards step up with 18 points each, including clutch 3-pointers in runaway win against Jacksonville State.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Brandon Miller was the big story for Alabama basketball Friday night.

He should be. Twenty-eight points with a 7-for-9 night at the 3-point line along with eight rebounds deserves attention.

Jahvon Quinerly is another storyline worth a mention. He didn’t burn up the nets in normal Quinerly fashion, but his presence was felt. He dished out eight assists with a couple of 3-pointers in 16 minutes of action as he eases back into the rotation from a torn ACL in the final game of last season.

There was something more to Alabama’s 104-62 win against Jacksonville State. Transfers Mark Sears and Nimari Burnett are still adjusting to their new team, but were lights out on offense and defense.

Sears scored 18 points with four 3-pointers and made some big defensive plays for one of his best games in an Alabama uniform.

“Tonight everybody was making the right plays,” Sears said. “We make each other better and everybody shot well tonight.”

Burnett hit for 18 points with five 3-pointers.

“Feels good,” Burnett said. “I’ve been working so hard the last two or three years so it feels good to have that hard work pay off.”

Miller and Quinerly are the obvious stars for Alabama. But Oats is going to need scoring out of the likes of Sears and Burnett this season, particularly with Quinerly still being worked back into action slowly.

Sears has been running the Crimson Tide offense in Quinerly’s absence. He scored 22 points against Liberty and his 18-point effort Friday is his second-best scoring night of the young season.

Alabama coach Nate Oats said there was a moment in the first half where Sears missed a defensive assignment, which led to a JSU 3-pointer, and he also had a careless turnover. Sears was fine after getting some coaching.

“He’s a guy that can handle the coaching and wants to get better,” Oats said. He made shots at a pretty high clip. I was happy to see him play as well as he did.

Burnett’s 18 points is a season high.

“Nimari is a guy we don’t need to be the best offensive initiator,” Oats said of Burnett. “We need him to finish plays, whether it’s driving a close-out or hitting a 3-pointer. He’s better playing off Quinerly, Jaden Bradley, Brandon Miller and those guys. You saw that tonight.”

There was a stretch during the second half when Sears and Burnett were on the court with Quinerly and Miller. The result was a 22-3 run.

“We moved the ball much better tonight,” Burnett said. “When you do that, shooters are going to hit their shots.”

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