Alabama's SEC Opener Marked By Sears Double-Double

The Crimson Tide guard set a career-high in assists as the program got off to a good start in conference play.

Jan 4, 2025; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide guard Mark Sears (1) drives the ball down the court against Oklahoma Sooners forward Glenn Taylor Jr. (35) during the second half at Coleman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Will McLelland-Imagn Images / Will McLelland-Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The No. 5 Alabama basketball team dominated in its SEC home opener, defeating the No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners 107-79. The Crimson Tide's 28-point victory was fueled by a double-double effort from Alabama's best player as Mark Sears not only led the team in scoring with 22 but found a career-high 10 assists to drive the team to victory.

"It was just the way the defense was playing," Sears said. "I noticed they were heavy in the gaps. We've got great shooters and I want to do a great job of finding my teammates, they did a great job of making the right plays."

Sears tallied six of his 10 assists in the first half, while scoring just a mild seven points to send the Crimson Tide into the locker room with a 19-point lead. His 15 second half points and 4 turnovers ensured the Alabama faithful left Coleman Coliseum happy as the Sooners never challenged in the second frame.

Beyond the obvious scoring contribution from Sears perhaps the more important aspect for the senior guard was how well he protected the basketball. Sears logged 32 minutes as Alabama's primary ball-handler and didn't commit a single turnover.

"I thought it's been good," Nate Oats said. "We've made a huge point of emphasis on turnovers in practice. I think he's wanting to get better, wanting to be coached, wanting this team to be great, so 10 assists, zero turnovers, that's how it's supposed to look for a point guard. Even the best point guards don't have those types of nights all that often. This will definitely help his assist to turnover ratio out on the season. I thought he was making the right reads, when they collapsed he was spraying it, making early reads. Nobody's going to be 100-percent on their reads but he was a lot closer to 100 today than he's been some games earlier in the season."

Read More: Alabama Basketball Runs Through Formerly Undefeated Oklahoma, 107-79

Sears was only one-of-six from beyond the arc as he struggled from deep, but his ball handling and distribution serves a role the Crimson Tide needs.

"Yeah, I think it'll be good because we've got some guys that need guys that generate offense for them a little bit," Oats said. "They've got to play off close-outs or play off catch-and-shoots, hopefully, him moving the ball like he did, maybe we can get some of the other shooters going, whether it's [Chris] Youngblood or [Aden] Holloway, who's more than capable of knocking down shots. Labaron was two-of-five tonight, if we get Jarin [Stevenson] going if Mark keeps moving it like that - you know he's so aggressive downhill that you kind of have to help because it's hard for a lot of guys in this league to guard him one-on-one without fouling. So then you bring the help in, when he keeps moving the ball like he did tonight, I think he's going to make it a lot easier on some of our other guys to get some easy buckets."

Oklahoma threw several defensive coverages at Alabama to attempt to disrupt the offensive flow, but Sears handled everything with poise as the team cruised to their first SEC win of the year.

"They were outstanding, I think they really got downhill," Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said. "I did see they were constantly getting into the paint. They did a great job no matter what ball screen coverage we did, they exposed it. Even at the end when we switched it, Sears right away hit it over the top, you saw how excited he got, that's just a veteran guard recognizing whatever ball screen. We hard-hedged it, he went right into it and drew a foul. I think he's elite. The other thing is, you've got a rim-roller lob-threat, you've got 3-point shooters out there. You've got to guard the ball, when the ball gets to the paint as fast as it did tonight the domino starts. Then they kick it, they did a lot of things and we didn't do well but I think it starts with Sears he's just really, really good."

---

Alabama On SI

Three Things to Watch For in Alabama Basketball's SEC Opener vs. Oklahoma

No. 5 Alabama Men's Basketball 2025 SEC Preview

Alabama Basketball Expects Derrion Reid, Houston Mallette to be Available for SEC Opener