Alabama
#12 Oklahoma
Sears Surpasses 1,500 Career Points at Alabama in the No. 5/6 Crimson Tide’s Win over No. 12/10 Oklahoma
1/4/2025 8:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide start conference play 1-0 following a dominant performance at home
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 5/6 Alabama Men's Basketball team picked up its first win of the conference schedule with a 107-79 win over the No. 12/10 Oklahoma Sooners, Saturday night inside of a sold out Coleman Coliseum.
Mark Sears led the team in points (22) and assists (10), achieving a pair of milestones in the performance. Sears surpassed the 1500-point mark, becoming the 18th player in Crimson Tide history to do so, and reached the 300-assist mark as well.
Alabama (12-2, 1-0 SEC) had five other players in double-figures as well including Labaron Philon's 16 points, Grant Nelson (12), Derrion Reid (11), along with Aden Holloway and Clifford Omoruyi matching with 10 apiece.
Saturday's win marked the largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent under head coach Nate Oats and the largest since the 2004-05 season.
The Sooners (13-1, 0-1 SEC) were led by Jalon Moore's 20 points off 9-of-14 shooting to go with seven rebounds in 29 minutes
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"I thought our guys were pretty locked in tonight. I thought the start was good in the first half. I thought to start the game, we were really locked in on the defensive end. Jeremiah Fears, I think, only had one point at the half; he's been their leading scorer, so I thought our guys were ready to go on him. Defensively, we were much better, then fell off a little bit in the second half when we got a lead. It's one thing we have to work on is playing with an edge when we get a lead.
Offensively, getting the offensive rebounds, getting 22 out of the 40 available rebounds on our offensive end is pretty solid. I thought we took advantage of some of their smaller guards on the offensive boards. I thought our guards got in there and mixed it up pretty good. Offensively, we didn't turn it over much, we had nine.
"Mark had a double-double with 10 assists, I thought he really had the ball moving. You could really see his energy when his teammates were scoring, which is great. We need that out of him. He was more excited about getting 10 assists. I think you saw when he hit Holloway for the one three, that was his ninth and he was fired up. I was happy to see that because we talk about 'Mudita,' vicarious joy through others success. Mark was really happy for his teammates scoring particularly off his passes tonight."
"A lot of stuff to clean up, but a lot of positives on our first game. I think our non-conference schedule prepared us for these games and now we have to go on the road where we've been a little inconsistent. Really good first game though."
Team Stats
- Mark Sears finished his night with 22 points and 10 assists, giving him over 1,500 points and 300 assists during his career at Alabama
- Sears became the 18th player in program history to surpass the 1,500-point mark
- The Crimson Tide dominated the glass all night long, grabbing 51 rebounds compared to Oklahoma's 26
- Alabama reached a new season-high for offensive rebounds as well, grabbing 22 of them
- Grant Nelson earned his fourth double-double of the season (12 points, 11 rebounds)
- Saturday marked the first time this season that two Alabama players posted double-doubles in the same game
- Alabama surpassed 100 points for the fourth time this season and 25th time in Oats' tenure
- The Crimson Tide shot 38-for-76 (50 percent) from the field, 9-for-29 (31 percent) from three and 22-for-30 (73 percent) from the free throw line
- Nate Oats' squad dominated the paint on the offensive end, scoring 56 points down low
First Half
- Oklahoma opened the matchup with a quick layup, but the Crimson Tide responded with a 7-0 run to take an early lead
- After both squads traded baskets for the next eight minutes, Alabama went on another 7-0 run to push the lead to double-digits (30-16)
- 20 of the Crimson Tide's first 30 points came from inside the paint, with eight of them coming from Clifford Omoruyi
- Following a scoreless 2:38 from the Sooners, a three from Chris Youngblood and a dunk by Derrion Reid ballooned the lead to an 18-point margin with five minutes to play in the half (37-19)
- Alabama closed the half hitting four free throws in a row and holding onto its large lead (48-29)
- Nate Oats' squad assisted 12 of the 18 baskets made in the first half, with six of them coming from Sears
- The Crimson Tide dominated the glass in the first period as well with 28 total rebounds, compared to Oklahoma's 17
- Labaron Philon led Alabama scorers with 10 points at the break, featuring a pair of three-pointers
- The Crimson Tide had just four turnovers in the half, with none of them coming from the starting lineup
- As a team, Alabama shot 18-for-40 (45 percent) from the field, 5-for-15 (33 percent) from three and went 7-for-10 (70 percent) from the charity stripe in the first half
Second Half
- Alabama started the half shooting just 3-for-11, but converted four of its first five attempts from the line
- Reid sparked the Crimson Tide offense after a tip-in layup kicked off an 11-2 run to push Alabama's lead to 28 points (68-40)
- However, Oklahoma responded with an 11-4 run of its own to make it a 21-point game with just under 10 minutes left
- After trading baskets for the next five minutes, the Crimson Tide went on a quick 8-1 run to push the lead back to 27 points at the final media timeout (93-66)
- Alabama passed the century mark with 2:40 remaining in the half after a three-pointer by Holloway
- The Crimson Tide closed out the game with eight of its final 14 points coming from inside the paint to secure the victory (107-79)
- Sears led the way for Alabama in the second half, scoring 15 of his 22 points
- The Crimson Tide dominated the glass once again in the second period, grabbing 12 offensive boards
- Nate Oats' squad shot 20-for-36 (56 percent) from the field, 4-for-14 from three (29 percent) and 15-for-20 (75 percent) from the charity stripe in the half
Up Next
- Alabama will begin its first road trip of the conference schedule against South Carolina on Wednesday, Jan. 8.
- The matchup between the Crimson Tide and the Gamecocks will tip off at 6:00 p.m. and will air on SEC Network
