Alabama coach Nate Oats called seniors Mark Sears and Grant Nelson into his office to ask one question: to play or not to play. Alabama’s regular-season finale against No. 1 Auburn was up next, and on the surface, there wasn’t much on the line: Auburn had clinched the SEC’s regular-season championship, and Alabama had clinched a double-bye in the SEC tournament.
It was a game purely for pride — a chance to beat a rival on its senior day and avenge a 94-85 loss a few weeks earlier. But sitting out the game could’ve meant more recovery for the March stretch.
The decision was easy to play, especially for Sears, a Muscle Shoals, Ala., native.
“It was a resounding, ‘Yeah. We don’t like those guys. We owe them one. We’ll play them looking to win,’” Oats said. “Which is what I wanted to hear, but I wanted them to make that decision. They did and brought it. I think it was huge.”
With a few seconds left in overtime and the score tied at 91, Oats put the ball in Sears’ hands despite his poor offensive showing: seven points on 2-of-8 shooting. Why? There are few players as qualified as Sears to deliver against top-ranked teams, and he did it again. A floater as time expired lifted the Crimson Tide over Auburn, denying the Tigers a program-record 16th SEC win and 28th regular-season win.
Read more on Sears and the Crimson Tide below.
Can Mark Sears be a March Madness star again? Alabama’s NCAA Tournament hopes depend on it
