Alabama’s historic, record-setting offensive explosion puts Tide on course for national title contention

NEWARK, N.J. — What’s glorious about sports is how frequently it gives us something that seems so rare it feels sent from another dimension. As if it could never happen again.

What transpired at the Prudential Center on Thursday night surely applies.

Who knows how long it will take, if ever, for the world to witness something equal to or better than what the No. 2 seed Alabama Crimson Tide accomplished here. Nate Oats’ sniper-minded squad sank an NCAA Tournament-record 25 3-pointers against No. 6 seed BYU en route to a record-setting and program-defining 113-88 win in the East Regional semifinals. 

“That was a fun game if you like offense,” said Oats in a tone not nearly loud enough to match the volume of what his team accomplished over the prior two hours. “I do believe that the record for 3s made in a game is held by Troy right out of Alabama with 28. We wanted to get to 28 tonight, but 25 is not bad.”

Alabama’s 25 triples broke the mark of 21 held for 35 years by Loyola Marymount, a team that changed how the game was played at a time when the 3-point shot was considered by most to be an accent, not a feature.

In its Sweet 16 game Thursday, Alabama deployed the shot like a blowtorch set to high, flaming the Cougars and rolling the Tide into the Elite Eight for a second consecutive season. 

The nation’s highest-scoring offense (91.1 points per game) managed to outdo its expectations by 22 points in a game that was said to be a race to 100. That was a half-truth. Sure, Alabama hit 100 and won the game, but it was over many minutes before the Tide ripped their way to the century mark.

“I loved watching them play,” Oats said of those famous Lions teams coached by the revolutionary-minded Paul Westhead. “That was my freshman year in high school that year. I remember Bo Kimble shooting left-hand free throws in honor of Hank [Gathers]. I loved watching them play. They got up-and-down. Maybe part of the reason we coach the way we coach. It’s a little more fun that way.”

Beyond the 25 treys in a silo, Alabama draining them on 51 shots (49%) also set an NCAA Tournament record for 3-point percentage on 40+ attempts from long range.

Consider the heretofore nearly unconsidered: Alabama would have defeated BYU on Thursday even if it didn’t sink a single 2-point bucket. Its 75 points on 3s and 18 points off foul shots would have rendered a 93-88 victory in their favor.

To that end, the 10 baskets Alabama made from inside the arc set an NCAA Tournament record in a game adorned with them: It was the fewest made 2-point field goals by a team that scored 100+ points … by six makes. (Kentucky made 16 during a 100-71 win over East Tennessee State in the first round of 2010.)

It had been even longer since a team reached 110 points in the NCAA Tournament. That was North Carolina, back in 2008, against a No. 16 seed. Bama did it against a BYU team that was 11-1 across its previous 12 games coming into this contest.

The triples came down like meteorites, one after another after another. 

The performance was so phenomenal, Alabama set the 3-point record with 7:41 to go. Mark Sears, who made that triple, drained 10 of them — one shy of the record — while totaling 34 points. The preseason All-American had the best game of his five-year college career. He also became the third player to have at least three NCAA Tournament games of 25+ points and 5+ assists, joining BYU’s own Jimmer Fredette and another guy who was pretty good in his day, Providence’s Billy Donovan.

Sears stands alone scoring 8+ triples and 8 assists in a single NCAA Tournament game. It was a ferocious swing against his recent trends; Sears was shooting 14% on 3-pointers across his previous six games.

“I was just in a zone,” Sears said. “Once I seen the first 3 fell in, 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.”

“His gravity that he has on [a] defense is something I never played with before,” said teammate Chris Youngblood, who had five 3-pointers of his own while compiling 19 points. Aden Holloway had 23 points off the bench, including six from beyond the arc.

Sears’ 34-point, 8-assist night also marked the first Sweet 16 game in which a player met those thresholds since Chris Mullin in 1985. That St. John’s team made the Final Four.

This Alabama team is one win away from advancing to its second straight semifinal.

Alabama smashes multiple NCAA Tournament 3-point shooting records in Sweet 16 rout of BYU

David Cobb

The Tide polished off one of their best games — dare we say their best, considering the circumstances — in program history. They put up 51 first-half points, the most the Cougars had ever allowed in 52 NCAA Tournament games. 

“People ask me how many 3s would you like to get off every game,” Oats said. “Well, kind of depends on how they guard us. If they guard us like we knew BYU was going to and stay heaving in the gaps, we’ll take 50, 51.” 

The Alabama team we all watched Thursday put on the best shooting performance of not only its season but the entire college basketball campaign. It’s not repeatable, but if the Tide can tap into something even remotely close again, it would create nearly an unbeatable opponent.

Alabama’s 113 points in 40 minutes on 1.43 points per possession equates to a maniacal March Madness manifestation, one we can only hope the 86-year-old Westhead was watching while cackling in a recliner or wherever he found himself on Thursday night. If he was watching, he must have been as thrilled and amazed as the rest of us — but perhaps not the least bit surprised.