Alabama basketball came out with an uninspiring effort in the first half on Saturday against LSU and found themselves tied 40-40 at halftime in a game they entered as 17.5-point favorites.
A frustrated Nate Oats made a bold move, and one that sent a loud message to the entire team. To open the second half, preseason SEC Player of the Year Mark Sears was on the bench. So was veteran center Cliff Omoruyi as Oats went with a different five hoping to spark his team on both ends of the floor.
As the half wore on, though, it became clear that Sears wasn't going to check into the game at all. Omoruyi checked in and rotated throughout the half, but Sears remained on the bench despite the Tide coming into the game with only nine healthy scholarship players with freshman Derrion Reid missing a fourth consecutive game.
Sears came into the game as the SEC's leading scorer and led the Crimson Tide in minutes at 32.8 per game. The fifth-year senior played 17 first-half minutes, but was held scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting from the floor. He had three assists, three rebounds, and two turnovers.
Aden Holloway and Labaron Philon combined for 50 minutes with Sears benched, and USF transfer Chris Youngblood eclipsed 30 minutes for just the second time this season. Youngblood made his first start in place of a banged-up Philon, who tweaked his ankle in practice and came off the bench as a result.
Oats didn't get too detailed about Sears not playing in the second half, but he did have this to say about his decision making process:
"We just played the guys we thought gave us the best chance to win in the second half."
'I didn't think our second-half defense has been very good lately. S owe made the point to the guys, we're done starting the same group that stars the game. We're going to start the guys that we think give us the best chance to get a great start in the second half."
Benching Sears - a guy who is going to go down as one of the best players in program history and led the team to the Final Four a season ago - is as bold of a coaching decision as you'll ever see in basketball. It also sends a loud message to not just Sears, but to everyone on the roster, that nobody is above reproach. If you don't do things the right way, you're not going to play.
It's fair to speculate on why Sears didn't get into the game at all in the second half. Sure, he didn't play his best half of basketball in the first 20 minutes, but I didn't think he was bad enough on either end of the floor to deserve to sit for the full half. Maybe something happened in the locker room that prompted the decision by Oats. Maybe it's something that has been building and Oats felt it was time to send a message.
In any case, Sears was visibly upset on the bench throughout the second half and several coaches and players were seen sitting with him and trying to console him.
It's a strange situation all around as Oats had just spent several minutes in the postgame presser following Tuesday's win over Vanderbilt glowingly speaking about his All-American guard after Sears became just the 82nd player in college basketball history to eclipse 2500 points.
Oats was asked how he wants to see Sears respond moving forward:
"The same response Cliff gave us in the second half - be all about doing the stuff we need to win basketball games."
Omoruyi won the hard hat and his effort on the glass was huge in helping Alabama ultimately pull out the win over LSU.
I would expect Sears to respond positively going into Alabama's matchup on Wednesday in Starkville against Mississippi State. I wouldn't be surprised to see his best all around game of the season, which will be needed for the Crimson Tide to pull out a road win in a tough environment.