With the world of college basketball watching, facing the nation’s No. 1 ranked team, Alabama men’s basketball needed its stars to rise to the occasion.

They didn’t.

Mark Sears and Grant Nelson, two players who are no strangers to heroics on big stages, made some plays but ultimately fell short on multiple occasions in a a 94-85 loss to Auburn on Saturday at Coleman Coliseum.

There was some good in their performances. Nelson had a double-double: 12 points and 12 rebounds. Sears scored 18 points, a team-high. Both players also responded to their coach Nate Oats’ challenge to stop turning the ball over so much. Sears tallied two and Nelson had one against Auburn. Both have averaged more in SEC play.

The problem was, in a game where every possession mattered, both players had bad moments. And there wasn’t room for bad against a team as elite as Auburn.

Sears shot 4 of 17 overall, 2 of 11 from deep and 2 of 6 at the rim, per Alabama. “Not good,” Oats said of Sears’ shooting at the rim. Meanwhile, Nelson went 5 of 11 overall and 0 of 1 from deep as well as 5 of 10 at the rim.

Seeing two of your best players go 9 of 28 (32%) on the day isn’t going to be good enough to beat the best team in the country. And it wasn’t.

“We sure aren’t going to be perfect as coaches or players,” Oats said. “There’s probably some misreads in there. I have to go back and look at them. It wasn’t one of (Sears’) better shooting nights. When he did get it going there kind of in the middle of the second half, I thought his defensive intensity picked up. That’s when we made the run and tied it up. We’ve got to be able to play hard even when shots aren’t going. I think that’s a sign of high character guys. How hard do you play when shots aren’t dropping? Can you keep moving the ball?”

Ball movement was a problem the entire Crimson Tide offense had against the Tigers (23-2, 11-1 SEC). That wasn’t just a Sears problem. In fact, his two assists led the team on a day when Alabama (21-4, 10-2) had only eight.

Sears and Nelson’s struggles at the rim also weren’t just their problems. The entire team struggled with layups, finishing 14 of 30.

“We missed a lot of reads,” Oats said. “We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to move the ball better. We’ve got to be a little more unselfish moving forward.”

Sears and Nelson won’t be defined by one game. They have the track record to prove they can be two of the best players on any night. See Sears on the run to the Final Four, and Nelson dominating No. 1 seed UNC in the NCAA Tournament.

But now both fifth-year seniors must respond to performances that left much to be desired against Auburn. A gauntlet remains, and Alabama needs Sears and Nelson to play at a high level to make another deep run into March and early April.

“What we have right now is a chance to play again on Wednesday,” Oats said. “We’ve got to answer the bell”

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.