When all is said and done, Mark Sears will be one of the most decorated players in Alabama basketball - and SEC - history. The graduate senior guard and Muscle Shoals native has been in Tuscaloosa for three years now and he has led the Crimson Tide to unprecedented heights.
Sears was a part of the 2022-23 team that won SEC regular season and tournament titles and entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed for the first time in program history. Even though that team bowed out in the Sweet 16 to San Diego State, it's probably still the best team in school history.
Last year, Sears led Alabama to the first Final Four in program history.
The All-American guard has made plenty of Alabama history, but following his buzzer-beating shot to beat top ranked Auburn on Saturday afternoon at Neville Arena, he made SEC history as well.
Mark Sears the first player in SEC history to win three games over AP No. 1 opponents
Mark Sears becomes the first player in SEC history to win three games over AP No. 1 opponents 😤
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) March 8, 2025
🐘 Beat No. 1 UNC on 11/27/2022
🐘 Beat No. 1 Houston on 12/10/2022
🐘 Beat No. 1 Auburn on 3/8/2025 pic.twitter.com/YCTRuequ8k
Sears scored 24 points in Alabama's 103-101 win over North Carolina in the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Oregon in November of 2022.
A couple of weeks later, Alabama went into Houston and knocked off the No. 1 Cougars on the road 71-65. Sears scored 11 points and hit a pair of three-pointers, none bigger than the top of the key three-pointer he made to give Alabama a one point lead with just over three minutes remaining.
And then on Sunday, for the second time, Sears helped lead Alabama to a road win over a No. 1 ranked opponent. And while it was far from a banner game for the graduate guard, he came up clutch when it mattered most.
Sears scored just nine points, though he did add seven assists to only one turnover while competing hard defensively. The last two of his nine points were the biggest as Sears hit the shot as time-expired to give Alabama the win over Auburn.
Sears came into Saturday's matchup on a torrid recent pace. Over the last five games, Sears was averaging 28 points and six assists per game. While his scoring output didn't come close to that, he took what was available to him and came up clutch when it mattered most.
Sears is peaking at the right time and makes this Crimson Tide team even more dangerous as March Madness approaches.