Roll Tide.
And they weren’t kidding. Alabama’s 113-88 romp over BYU Thursday night unleashed one extraordinary number after another. “That was a fun game if you like offense,” Tide coach Nate Oats said. “That was fun for the fans, I’m sure, at least for the Alabama fans.”
Here are 10 staggering stats.
The Tide buried 25 3-pointers. That’s four more than Loyola Marymount’s old NCAA tournament record from 35 years ago, and seven more than any other team in tournament history. “I do believe that the record for 3s made in a (regular season) game is held by Troy right out of Alabama with 28,” Oats said correctly. “We wanted to get to 28 tonight, but 25 is not bad.”
Alabama took 66 shots, with 51 of them from beyond the arc. That means the Tide tried only 15 attempts for a 2-pointer the entire game, and made 10 of them. They also hit 18 of 21 free throws. So Alabama missed only eight shots all night from inside the arc.
Mark Sears’ 34 points included 10-for-16 shooting on 3-pointers. In the previous six games coming into Thursday night, he had gone 5 for 35. “I told Mark he’s playing chess, not checkers, he just kind of set everybody up with that 5 of 35 thinking he was in a slump,” Oats said. Well, he wasn’t.
“I never started doubting myself and stopped believing in myself,” Sears said. “And my teammates kept encouraging me to keep shooting it, keep shooting it, keep shooting it. That just shows that even though when I’m not at my highest peak, they still trust me and want me to shoot the ball.
➡️ Alabama sets NCAA tournament record for most 3-pointers in a game
“I was just in a zone. Once I saw the first 3 fall, I felt the basket was as big as an ocean. And every time I shot I felt like it was going in. Just lost myself in the game and just let everything else happen.”
Just on his 10 3-pointers, Sears would have become only the third player in this tournament to go for 30 points in a game.
All that scoring, and he also had eight assists. For that matter, the Tide had assists on 27 of their 35 field goals.
Alabama was outscored 50-16 in the paint — and still won by 25 points.
The Tide hit the 100-point mark with 6:30 still left in the game.
📚 Alabama vs. BYU becomes 20th-highest scoring game in March Madness history
Alabama has now broken 90 points in 20 games this season. They reached 90 Thursday before the eight-minute media timeout.
The Tide have trailed for only 4:27 out of 120 minutes so far in the NCAA tournament.
Alabama is in the Elite Eight for the second consecutive year. Before 2020, the Tide had won one Sweet 16 game in their entire history.
