Mark Sears Expanding His Game with Aggressiveness in the Paint

Alabama's senior guard tied his season high with 24 points, but did it with toughness driving to the basket.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Having big games for Alabama basketball is nothing new for Mark Sears. There's a reason he was second in scoring for the Crimson Tide last season behind Brandon Miller. 

Usually, his big scoring outputs come from hot shooting nights beyond the arc or a strong performance from the free throw line, but in Friday night's victory over Mercer, Sears was nearly unstoppable in the paint. 

"I wanna show that I’m not just a 3-point shooter," Sears said after the game. "That’s something I wanted to expand on my game.”

The senior guard already had 17 points at the break and finished with 24 to lead the team in scoring. Fourteen of his points came in the paint with a 67 percent shooting night. He tied his season-high point total, but attempted and made for field goals than any of the other three games this season. He also had a season best 6 assists. 

Sears was aggressive driving to the basket from the opening minutes, and it continued throughout the half. Nate Oats called his use-it or lose-it timeout with four seconds left before halftime. Sears took it all the way down the court and straight to the rack for a tough layup. 

To summarize the 1st half 🔥#RollTide | #BlueCollarBasketball pic.twitter.com/dj7hHlAYP1

— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) November 18, 2023

Oats said one of the things that stood out about Sears when they get him out of the portal from Ohio was his foul rate. He's always been aggressive driving to the basket, the Alabama head coach likes his decision-making a lot more now. 

"When he drives, he’s finishing at the rim, getting fouled or getting the correct spray-out now about 95 percent of the time," Oats said. "He’s grown a lot in his decision making. He’s always been pretty tough and physical coming down hill.”

It wasn't just Sears though. Finishing around the rim was a theme for the whole team as the Tide ended the night with 50 points in the paint. 

"We play very aggressively," Sears said. "We don’t come in the game determined with one thing we’re gonna do. If they give us the paint, we’re going to attack the paint hard. They took away the 3 today, so that’s what we had to do.”

Sears tested the NBA draft waters last season, but decided to come back to Alabama for his senior year. He has scored in double digits in each of the Tide's first four games and leads the team with a 19.5 points per game scoring average. 

Sophomore guard Rylan Griffen, who goes up against Sears in practice, put it simply.

"It’s just hard to guard Mark Sears, man," Griffen said. 

Sears Shines, No. 22 Alabama Basketball Defeats Mercer 98-67