Nate Oats knew Alabama basketball’s game against No. 4 Purdue wouldn’t be a neutral-site matchup the moment he stepped onto the floor inside Toronto’s Coca-Cola Coliseum on Saturday.

Decked out in black and gold, the pro-Purdue crowd was there to cheer on Toronto native Zach Edey as he made his homecoming. The star center didn’t disappoint either, tallying 35 points and seven rebounds to lead Purdue to a 92-86 win.

Edey was outstanding, but he wasn’t the only star on the court.

Alabama guard Mark Sears nearly crashed Edey’s homecoming party, matching his career-high with 35 points of his own. The Muscle Shoals, Alabama native single-handedly kept the Crimson Tide in the game at times, knocking down eight 3s on the afternoon.

“Sears has played in these big games, he’s got the advantage a little bit,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “We played in a lot of big games last year. When he was in, he played well. He was ready to go.”

Returning as the lone starter from last year’s SEC-title-winning team, Sears has taken over Alabama’s point guard duties while also serving as the focal point of the Tide’s attack this season. That’s seen the senior boost his average to 21.4 points per game, the highest it's been in his four-year career.

“[He’s] getting downhill a little bit more, attacking, being aggressive,” Oats said. “He did it last year a little bit, too. Just taking more of a scoring role for us now that Brandon isn’t here this year.”

Sears is also taking over Alabama's leadership duties, which requires taking on the team’s blue-collar identity on the court. He's done a pretty good job of managing that as well. According to Oats, the senior guard recorded a solid 0.68 defensive-leverage rating against Purdue.

“I thought he really tried hard on D,” Oats said. “That leadership comes by throwing it to everybody else. Defenses are bordering, moving the ball. I thought he did a decent job moving the ball. ... Mark is the guy that played a lot of minutes last year, that was in all of those big games, that knows what it takes. And he’s been pretty vocal. I’m pretty happy with his leadership this year.”

Saturday’s loss served as the start of a grueling three-game stretch for Alabama, as the Tide will travel to No. 10 Creighton next Saturday before facing No. 1 Arizona on Dec. 20 in Phoenix. Alabama is going to need its star guard to show up in those games as well if it wants to avoid coming out of the gauntlet 0-for-3.

Saturday marked Sears’ fifth game of 20 or more points this season. However, the senior has only managed to accomplish the feat on back-to-back occasions once this season — 27 points in a win over Oregon followed by 23 points in the loss to Clemson.

“We need great games out of him every game, and he’s shown he’s capable of it,” Oats said. “We’ve got to get him for every possession, every game he’s in.”