Social media blown away by Mark Sears’ absurd Sweet 16 performance

BYU learned a tough lesson in its 113-88 Sweet 16 loss: Don’t run with Elephants. BYU looked to play an up-tempo game with the fastest team in the country, the Alabama Crimson Tide, and it did not go well for the Cougars. Alabama ran up the score and set an NCAA Tournament record with 25 made three-pointers, shooting a staggering 25/51 from deep. 

It was an unstoppable three-point barrage led by First-Team All-American Mark Sears. After last year’s Final Four run, Sears regressed as a shooter, falling from 43% a season ago to 32% this regular season, but he caught fire on Thursday night, and Crimson Tide fans were happy to see that version of their point guard once again. 

Sears hit 10 of those 25 three-pointers, falling just one shy of Jeff Fryar’s NCAA Tournament record, which he set in 1990 for Loyola Marymount. Sears tied Purdue’s Carsen Edwards, Memphis’s Roburt Sallie, and UNLV’s Freddie Banks for the second-most in March Madness history. Sears’ previous career-high was eight three-pointers against Purdue in December of 2023. 

Sears has always stepped up big in March, but this 34-point performance was easily the most impressive of his accomplished postseason career. Sears is in his final year of eligibility, and if he continues to play like this he could be poised to carry the Crimson Tide to a national championship. He struggled from deep in the first two games of the NCAA Tournament going a combined 1/9, but he's found his rhythm from beyond the arc once again.

Sears wasn’t the only Alabama player red-hot from deep. Auburn transfer Aden Holloway went 6/13 from deep. The sophomore had an impressive performance off the bench and had fans thinking about the all-time great shooting backcourt. 

The Crimson Tide will face either Arizona or Duke in the East Regional Final on Saturday and if they stay this hot, it’ll be nearly impossible to beat Nate Oats’s team.