All-American Sears Drives No. 3 Alabama's High-Octane Offense

Crimson Tide rolling again after reaching first-ever Final Four last season, now facing Razorbacks

Alabama Crimson Tide guard Mark Sears draws lots of attention while getting fouled last Saturday against Georgia. The Tide rolled to a 90-69 home victory over the Dawgs. / Gary Cosby Jr./USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Today's tidbit for Arkansas' battle with Alabama: Mark Sears got more votes than any player in the country for the AP Preseason All-American team. Surprised? Don't be, because Alabama's 6-1 senior guard has lived up to the hype.

Sears garnered 54 of 55 possible votes, three more than anyone else. Sears earned that respect by leading Alabama to its first Final Four last season. Now he's got the Crimson Tide ranked No. 3 and on a mission to win their first national championship.

The Tide is well rested, not having played for seven days, since they routed visiting Georgia 90-69. Sears scored an efficient 20 points in that game, making 6-of-14 shots to go with six assists and five rebounds. But, he had six turnovers. Maybe he was careless in a runaway win, or maybe he's prone to making mistakes against an aggressive defense like the Razorbacks have played lately.

"We’re not fearing (Sears) at all," said Arkansas assistant coach Chin Coleman. "Obviously, we’ve played against him in this league a bunch. We know what his strengths are and we’re going to try to make sure that we do a good job of not letting him be comfortable.

"He’s got to be uncomfortable like we make everybody else uncomfortable. That’s what we do, that’s who we are. He’s not going to be comfortable in our building and we’re going to make him do some things that he doesn't want to do. It’s going to be physical. It’s going to be grit. He’s going to have to play through that."

Sears leads the Tide in scoring (18.1) and assists (5.1) plus 3-pointers made and attempted, just ahead of sophomore Aden Holloway. Grant Nelson is 'Bama's second-best scorer (12.8) and top rebounder (8.4). He was also a major force in Alabama's big run past the Elite Eight last March.

"He’s tough," Coleman said of Sears. "He’s one of the best, if not the best guard in the league. He’s older, he understands winning. He’s been to a Final Four last year. He’s a really good player, really good player. We have respect for him."

Holloway played last season at Auburn, seeing action in all 35 games with 26 starts. The 6-1 point guard was a 5-star recruit and McDonald's All-American from Charlotte, N.C. He's the Tide's invaluable sixth man and third scorer (11.7) in a balanced and deep lineup.

Famously, 'Bama coach Nate Oats wants his team to run and look for easy shots, but in a half-court set take only 3-pointers and layups. The Tide is the SEC's top-scoring offense (90.2), well ahead of Arkansas (76.8) at 12th. But 'Bama is last in the league in points allowed (78.3) with Arkansas eighth (68.7).

"I like to call it NASCAR, Formula One offense the way that they move," Coleman said. "Very similar to Michigan in a way when we played them. Michigan was playing at a breakneck pace. And so by understanding that transition defense is going to be a premium."

The Hogs beat Michigan 89-87 in a roller-coaster thriller at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Dec. 10. Until they won at Kentucky last Saturday in Arkansas coach John Calipari's celebrated "Return to Rupp," the Michigan win was the Hogs' only significant triumph.

Beating then-No. 12 Kentucky 89-79 and following it with another road victory, 78-70 against the Texas Longhorns, put the Hogs back in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament bid. An upset of Alabama tonight will all but cinch an invite to the Big Dance unless the Hogs were horrible in their final eight regular-season SEC games.

"When you look at (Arkansas') last four games, they're one of the better teams we're going to face," Oats said. "Their talent level is really high. This team's playing as well as anybody right now."

Best way to slow down Alabama is by making shots. If the Tide has to continually get the ball out of the net to begin their offense, the Hogs' defense has a chance to set up. Avoiding turnovers that lead to 'Bama fast breaks could also mean the difference between winning and losing.

"We want teams to play against our set defense," Coleman said. "So we want to make it a half-court game defensively and obviously take our opportunities when we get them in transition because we’re pretty good in transition (offense) as well. But we can’t have this an 85-to-90 possession game. That’s where they thrive."

Arkansas won the transition game against Kentucky and Texas, frustrating those teams and making it easier to set their aggressive man-to-man defense. Arkansas guards D.J. Wagner and Johnell "Nelly" Davis have been stars on both ends of the court in recent games.

Davis averages 20 points in the last three games, showing why he was the top portal transfer following last season. Against Kentucky and Texas, he made 14-of-29 shots, including 7-of-14 from 3-point land.

Johnell Davis puts up a season-high on the road against Texas 🔥

24 PTS | 7-15 FG | 4-8 3PT | 5 REB | 4 STL pic.twitter.com/Yq9Lea3IWE

— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) February 6, 2025

"It’s great to see Nelly be what we thought he could be," Calipari said, "and he’s been great." It was expected, and that's why Davis got one vote for preseason All-American. He was also picked preseason second-team All-SEC.

It'll be another good matchup between the guards tonight when the Hogs (14-8, 3-6) and Tide (19-3, 8-1) tip off at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN in what should be a wild Walton Arena.

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