Alabama basketball shot the lights out at Prudential Center in Newark, connecting on 25-of-51 attempts from three-point range on the way to a 113-88 blowout win over BYU in the Sweet 16 to advance to the Elite Eight for just the third time in program history.
Alabama's 25 made three pointers was a new NCAA Tournament record, breaking a 35-year-old record held by Loyola Marymount when they drained 21 three-pointers in a 149-115 win over Michigan in the 2nd Round of the 1990 tournament.
Mark Sears came into the game having made just 5-of-35 from three over his last five games. His prolonged shooting slump ended against the Cougars, with the All-American hitting 10-of-16 from deep, finishing one made three away from tying the NCAA single-game player record.
Alabama wasn't simply chucking threes for the sake of chucking them. 51 of Alabama's 66 shot attempts came from three-point range. That happened because of the defensive strategy by BYU, something Nate Oats saw on film that he thought the Crimson Tide would be able to take advantage of.
"They had been going under ball screens just about every game we watched," said Oats.
"I told both those guys, Holloway and Sears, man, I hope they go under us because we’re going to rain them."
Kevin Young and BYU had a concerted effort to go under ball-screens and pack the paint. They were clearly worried about Alabama's ability to get to the rim. It was a fair concern, considering how the Tide dominated in the paint in wins over Robert Morris and Saint Mary's to open the NCAA Tournament. Alabama has also done a lot of damage all season long inside the three-point line, shooting over 60% from two on the year.
BYU wasn't going to let Alabama beat them at the rim. Instead, they took their chances giving up a lot of open looks from three. The Crimson Tide made them pay and rained fire from deep all night long. Along with Sears' 10, Aden Holloway hit six, and Chris Youngblood hit five. Those three combined for 21 of the 25 three-pointers made by Alabama.
Alabama's offense is built to beat teams like BYU
For some reason, the Crimson Tide was a popular upset pick in the Sweet 16. People cited BYU's high-powered offense and Alabama's struggling defense, somehow ignoring that Alabama has a Top-30 defense in KenPom while the Cougars entered the game ranked 72nd in the same metric.
The team BYU most closely resembled on Alabama's schedule was Kentucky, a team the Crimson Tide went 3-0 against during the season, beating them at home, on the road, and at a neutral site in the SEC Tournament.
"Everybody questions whether we had the defense to win. For some reason nobody was talking about our offense, though," said Oats.
When Alabama's offense looks like that, they're going to be difficult to beat regardless of who they play. Obviously, making that high of a percentage from three isn't likely to be duplicated, especially because the Crimson Tide will play much better defenses from here on out.
But Alabama has proven they can win games in a variety of ways. They do not live and die by the three-point shot, though on Thursday night they certainly lived by it. But Alabama will take what is made available by the defense and exploit it. They will identify the "seals" on the other team and take advantage of matchup advantages.
Against Robert Morris and Saint Mary's, Alabama felt they had a distinct advantage on the interior. Against BYU, Oats knew his team's biggest advantage would come on the outside.
"BYU with their personnel, we knew that once they started going under — they always collapse. They kind of have to. They got away with it against some teams that don’t space like we do. But I told these guys going in, if you move the ball — we end up with 27 assists. I’m not sure where that ranks in tournament history. But if you’ll move the ball, our offense is designed to beat a defense like this," said Oats.
All quotes are courtesy of ASAP Sport via On3.
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