With March Madness looming, Alabama coach Nate Oats is trying to coax the best out of Crimson Tide guard Mark Sears.
That process continues Wednesday night when No. 4 Alabama travels to Columbia, Mo., to face No. 15 Missouri in a high-powered Southeastern Conference matchup.
Oats called out Sears on Saturday after the then-second-ranked Crimson Tide (21-4, 10-2 SEC) fell to visiting No. 1 Auburn 94-85.
“He shot 4 of 17,” Oats said. “Obviously, he’s a competitor. He wants to win at a high level. He’s been able to impact winning for most of his career by scoring the ball well. Yet, he was 2 of 6 at the rim. He was 2 of 11 from (3-point range). He was 2 of 6 at the rim, and those are typically the more efficient shots you’d get.”
Sears is averaging a team-high 17.8 points per game and shooting 34.5 percent from 3-point range. However, he is shooting just 39.7 percent overall from the floor.
Last season, Sears averaged 21.5 points while shooting 43.6 percent from beyond the arc and 50.8 percent overall.
Oats also has been concerned about Sears’ defensive and playmaking regression this season.
“We’ve got to be able to play hard when the shots aren’t falling,” Oats said. “A sign of high-character guys is how hard they play when the shots aren’t dropping. Can you keep moving the ball? Maybe sometimes (Sears) needs to get 10 assists.”
Oats is eager to see how his team responds to an emotionally draining defeat.
“We had a chance to become No. 1 in the country,” he said. “We had a chance to be No. 1 in the league. All that’s out right now. What we have right now is a chance to play again on Wednesday against Missouri, and we got to answer the bell.”
Missouri (19-6, 8-4) brings a 16-1 home record into the midweek game. The Tigers scored decisive victories last week at home against Oklahoma, 82-58, and on the road against Georgia, 87-74.
Last season, Missouri went 0-18 in league play and lost in the first round of the SEC tournament.
“I mean, I don’t really think it’s a thing of us trying to prove anybody wrong at this point,” Missouri guard Tamar Bates told SEC Network. “We’re just proving ourselves right. We know who we are, we know who we’ve got in that locker room, and at the end of the day, we’re gonna keep playing ball.”
Bates leads Missouri’s balanced attack with 13.4 points per game. Forward Mark Mitchell averages 12.9 points and 4.7 rebounds, while guard Caleb Grill averages 12.8 points off the bench on 46.7 percent shooting from 3-point range.
The Tigers are coming off one of their best efforts of the season. They dominated the last 20 minutes during their victory over Georgia on Saturday.
“We had 18 assists, three turnovers, nine steals and we ended up winning the rebounding war,” coach Dennis Gates said during his postgame radio show. “So I’m just proud of our guys to be able to do what they did on the road — 28 minutes of the lead, five minutes of the deficit. And we just fought back in the second half, we put up 49 points.”
–Field Level Media
