Alabama basketball finds its shooting touch in blowout victory over Liberty
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Mark Sears gave a slight shrug after receiving a friendly bounce right before the half. Throwing up a 3 at the top of the arc, the Alabama basketball guard watched as his shot rolled down the iron before falling to the bottom of the net.
“I guess I would say that’s a shooter’s role,” Sears said with a smile. “It wasn’t supposed to go in, but I’m happy it did.”
It was that kind of night for Alabama, one the Crimson Tide has been looking for its last few times on the floor.
Alabama ended its early-season shooting woes from deep Friday night, hitting 10 of its 22 3-point attempts to sink Liberty 95-59. The hot-handed performance came after the Crimson Tide made a combined to make just 6 of 50 shots from deep in its charity exhibition against Southern Illinois and its season opener against Longwood.
Heading into Friday night’s game, Nate Oats shrugged off any concern over his team's shooting slump, stating that he had seen his players consistently make shots during practice. Still, seeing that translate to a game setting was a bit reassuring for everyone in crimson and white.
“It felt good to see shots go in because we all worked so hard in the summer and also in the fall,” Sears said. “To see those shots go in, it’s very redeeming for all of us.”
Alabama wasted no time getting hot from deep as Brandon Miller drained a 3 on the first shot of the game. The freshman forward went on to hit his first three shots from deep, finishing the night 4 of 5 from range while putting up a season-high 20 points. That came after a shaky long-range performance during his debut early this week when he was 0-for-6 from beyond the arc during Alabama’s season-opening win over Longwood.
“I feel like we got going pretty early and just maintained the energy that we had coming from each other,” Miller said Friday night. “We just build each other up to win.”
Sears flashed the scoring ability that brought him to Alabama the offseason, leading the Crimson Tide with 22 points on 8 of 11 shooting including 3 of 5 from beyond the arc. That was a stark improvement from his debut performance earlier this week when he shot 2 of 11, including 1 of 5 from deep against Longwood.
“I just told them to take the right shots, shoot them in rhythm, trust your work,” Oats said of his team’s shooting performance. “Sears and Brandon came out 3 of 5 and 4 of 5, so they shot it well. We have some other guys who can really shoot it. … All in all, I thought it was good.”
Alabama’s shooting helped open up the lane against a Liberty team that packed players down low early. That allowed the Crimson Tide to shoot 52% from the floor while holding a 34-18 advantage in the paint.
“They’re going to make you score from the perimeter and not let the ball get into the lane,” Oats said of Liberty’s defense under the guidance of former Virginia assistant Ritchie McKay. “You’ve got to make some shots. It certainly helped we went 10 of 22 from 3. Brandon being as long as he is can kind of shoot over them a little bit. It’s huge that Brandon made those, and Sears has been a quality shooter his whole career. … It was big that those shots dropped for those guys. It was big for our offense, too because it kind of kept the floor spread. Once you start making them, they’ve got to start coming out of the pack a little bit. That opens lanes up to drive and draw some fouls.”
Things should only get better for Alabama moving forward. The Crimson Tide has yet to see the debut of St. Bonaventure guard Dom Welch, who has missed the first two games due to a lower-body injury. Starting point guard Jahvon Quinerly is also set to return to the team next month after suffering a torn ACL in March.
“We’ve got some guys who can really play,” Oats said. “Dom Welch is a proven shooter. He’s shot almost 40% in his career in a quality league. When he gets healthy and can play, it will give us even more depth. Quinerly’s the best breakdown guy on the team, so I think he’ll get our shooters better shots.”
Alabama will look to feed off its momentum next week as it makes its first road trip of the season, traveling down to Mobile, Ala. to take on Southern Alabama on Tuesday at 9 p.m. CT. From there, the Crimson Tide will return to Coleman Coliseum to host Jacksonville State next Friday before traveling to Portland, Ore., for the Phil Knight Invitational.