Why Mark Sears didn’t play much in second half vs. Illinois for Alabama basketball
Alabama men’s basketball managed to tally 100 points against Illinois, but Mark Sears didn’t score any of those.
Sears played only 21 minutes and didn’t make a single shot. He saw 13 minutes in the first half then eight minutes in the second. Sears finished 0-for-5 and 0-for-4 from deep.
Sears didn’t play much at all down the stretch as No. 8 Alabama closed out the 100-87 victory over No. 25 Illinois at Legacy Arena in the CM Newton Classic.
Alabama coach Nate Oats provided some clarity postgame as to why Sears didn’t see much time late.
“I took him out to kind of let him get his head together a little bit,” Oats said. “I tried to put him back in.”
But Sears thought him staying on the bench would be best, per Oats.
“He said, ‘Leave these guys in. They’re playing pretty well.’ He was right,” Oats said. “So we left them in.”
The other guards shined; Labaron Philon scored 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds and tallied nine assists. Latrell Wrightsell Jr. also scored 16 but had two rebounds and four assists. Then Aden Holloway, the Auburn transfer, scored 18 and made 3 of 4 from deep.
Sears wasn’t making anything; he had his lowest scoring output at Alabama. His previous low was two points against Tennessee in 2022-23.
“He was struggling,” Oats said. “There’s a lot of pressure on him, being a home-state kid that came back. Preseason player of the year. He’s trying to do well. Teams are gearing their defense toward him. He had some good looks. Just didn’t go.”
So Sears decided to let the other guards run the show and close out the victory.
“It’s similar to what Herb Jones has done before,” Oats said. “We’ve had some really good players here that have just kind of been unselfish enough and want to win bad enough to say, ‘hey let the guys go. They’re playing really well. Leave them in.‘”
Now Sears turns his attention to bouncing back against Houston on Tuesday in Las Vegas as part of the Players Era Festival.
Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.