Alabama basketball was clicking on all cylinders offensively on Tuesday night against Mississippi State. A big part of the reason why was graduate senior Chris Youngblood, who was nuclear hot from three-point range for the second time this season against the Bulldogs.
Youngblood scored a season-high 27 points on 7-of-11 from three-point range. In the two games against Mississippi State this season, Youngblood has scored 50 points and hit 14-of-21 from three-point range.
Youngblood hit 7 of Alabama's season-high 22 three-pointers in a 111-73 bludgeoning of the Bulldogs.
After the game, Youngblood was interviewed by the studio crew on ESPN2 and he shared a hilarious message he delivered to Mark Sears as the senior point guard started approaching a double-double.
Chris Youngblood's message to Mark Sears
Youngblood was asked what he's doing off-the-ball when Sears is dribbling and trying to create. He talked about his movement and then said he told Sears "you want 10 assists, you want a double-double, you know where to find me."
Sears indeed finished with a double-double of 19 points and 10 assists. Several of those assists were kick out passes to Youngblood for three. He connected on seven threes and probably thought the basket was twice as big as it was.
Sears has been terrific the last three games. He scored 35 points in the road loss to Missouri and followed that up with a 30-point performance at home against Kentucky on Saturday. He didn't have as prolific of a scoring night against Mississippi State, but he teamed with Youngblood to begin the offensive onslaught.
The two combined to hit 8-of-11 from three-point range in the first half as Alabama took a 53-27 lead into the locker room.
Youngblood had been in a bit of a shooting funk prior to breaking out in the second half against Kentucky. In the three previous games, Youngblood was just 3-of-13 from three, including a 1-of-7 night in the loss to Missouri. He's 10-of-16 in the last two games and has combined to score 41 points.
Youngblood should continue getting open looks, particularly with Oats' decision to input Labaron Philon into the starting lineup. That puts two creators on the floor in Sears and Philon who can both get to the rim and break down the defense.