Bama sits SEC leading scorer Sears for 2nd half of

Jan 26, 2025, 12:11 AM ET

Alabama guard Mark Sears entered Saturday night’s game against LSU leading the team and the SEC in scoring but was held scoreless and spent the whole second half of the Crimson Tide’s 80-73 win on the bench.

“We played the guys that we thought gave us the best chance to win in the second half,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said.Sears, a preseason All-American, went 0-for-5 from the field with 3 rebounds, three assists and 2 turnovers. His scoring average dropped to 18.1 points per game.Editor’s Picks 1 Associated Oats indicated protective

consistency, particularly into the 2nd half, as a factor for lineup modifications.”I didn’t think our second-half defense has been very good recently, so we made the indicate the guys, we’re done beginning the exact same group that starts the game, “Oats stated.”Our defense was significantly better in the second half than in the first half, and we haven’t done that much this year.”Aden Holloway scored 19 points and Mouhamed Dioubate added 14 in the win for No. 4 Alabama.It was the 2nd consecutive game that Holloway and Dioubate came off the bench to have huge nights for the Crimson Tide(17-3, 6-1 SEC )after they combined for 44 points in Tuesday’s win over Vanderbilt.Jordan Sears scored 21 indicate lead LSU (12-7, 1-5). Web cam Carter had 17 points, and Corey Chest had 12 points and 18 rebounds.Information from The

Associated Press was used in this report.