It was mostly business as usual for No. 4 Alabama on Saturday, with the team defeating LSU 80-73.
But one glaring abnormality occurred during the game: Leading scorer Mark Sears was held scoreless throughout the entire game and didn’t play at all in the second half.
This wasn’t the first time Sears was held scoreless in a game, as he did so against Illinois. But that time was different, as he actually had played in the last 20 minutes of that game.
The first sign of trouble came when Alabama started out the second half with Sears off the court and on the bench instead, where he then proceeded to stay for the rest of the game. Head coach Nate Oats didn’t directly address Sears’s benching after the game, but he hinted at effort issues.
“We went with the guys in the second half that I thought gave us the best chance to win this game,” Oats said. “We won the game, and our defense was significantly better than the first half, and we haven’t done that very often this year. So that’s all I’m going to say about that stuff.”
Another thing of note was that Sears appeared to be visibly frustrated on the bench at times, and at one point had to be consoled by assistant coach Preston Murphy. Whether the benching of Sears was strictly performance-related or something else isn’t completely known, but the Crimson Tide needed players to step up in his absence.
One of the players who helped fill the void was guard Aden Holloway, who had a team-high 19 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Oats praised his defensive effort, which helped hold LSU to only 33 points in the final 20 minutes.
“I think Holloway’s getting better on defense,” Oats said. “I thought he was pretty good guarding people tonight.”
Another player who saw increased scoring responsibilities in Sears’ absence was forward Mouhamed Dioubate. Usually known for his defensive presence, he had 14 points on 6/8 shooting and helped close out the Tigers by making his final four shots of the game.
Sears wasn’t the only starter to be benched at the beginning of the second half, however, as center Clifford Omoruyi sat after a lackluster first half performance in terms of rebounding and defense.
But unlike Sears, Omoruyi got the chance to check back in the game, and he took advantage, pulling down seven rebounds, including three offensive boards, while also having a much better defensive impact in the second half, resulting in him winning the hard hat award. Oats spoke afterwards how he was proud of the example that Omoruyi set.
“Clifford ends up playing extremely hard in the second half. He had a great attitude on the bench and ends up winning the hard hat after not starting the second half,” Oats said. “I kind of just told the guys that’s how life goes sometimes. There’s a little adversity, and you gotta challenge it well. I was super proud of the way Cliff handled it.”
Sears will look to bounce back in Starkville, as Alabama will face off against No. 14 Mississippi State on Wednesday at 8 p.m. CT. The game can be streamed on SEC Network.