TUSCALOOSA — It was not the outcome Mark Sears or the rest of Alabama’s five seniors were hoping for on Senior Night. The Crimson Tide fell 99-94 to No. 5 Florida, suffering a frustrating second-straight loss after a buzzer beater sunk Alabama against Tennessee on Saturday.

That made it a bittersweet moment for Alabama’s star player after the game. Sears won 79 times heading into his final game at Coleman Colieaum. Fittingly, he led Alabama with 30 points, continuing a superb run of form that fans have become accustomed to and will hope to see a few more of as Alabama heads toward postseason play.

Sears was unable to get win No. 80. But that won't change how he feels about the building he first visited as a seventh-grader and where he made so many memories for Tide fans.

“This place is always going to be my home,” Sears told reporters after the game. “It sucks how it ended in Coleman, but this place will forever be my home.”

The loss is certainly frustrating. And the competitor in Sears will be focused on rebounding against No. 1 Auburn on Saturday. But Alabama’s best player got some much-deserved recognition from Tide fans after the game. Coach Nate Oats expressed his appreciation for those fans who stayed after a tough loss to celebrate an in-state product and one of the best to don an Alabama jersey.

“He’s done a lot for us, obviously,” Oats said. “He was our leading scorer in our first and only Final Four we’ve ever played in. He’s a National Player of the Year candidate going into the year. We’ve been a top-10 team all year. He’s been our leader. I think he’s playing really hard. He didn’t shoot it great from 3 tonight, but he’s had some pretty efficient games here over the last month. He’s given us pretty good effort on D.

"So, for a kid from Alabama to do what he’s done these last three years here at Alabama. It would have been nice to send him out with a win on senior night.”

Sears’ past accolades speak for themselves. He was the second-leading scorer on Alabama’s 2022-23 team that earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Sears built on that performance by becoming a consensus second-team All-American and leading Alabama to its first Final Four in school history. He set a program record with 797 points during that season and currently ranks in the top-10 in career points, with his eyes set on adding to that tally.

It's what’s still to come for Sears that Oats is the most excited about. The Alabama coach has maintained that Sears has been playing the best basketball of his decorated career over the past few weeks. His effort on defense is a response to being benched earlier in conference play against LSU, and his leadership will be critical as the Tide aims to recover from its late-season struggles as it prepares for an NCAA Tournament run.

Along with Sears, four other players got to enjoy senior day recognition. Tuscaloosa native Chris Youngblood, Tide forwards Grant Nelson and Clifford Omoruyi and walk-on Max Scharnowski all played their last games in Coleman. Scharnowski has been a fan favorite his entire career, getting raucous cheers from the Coleman faithful whenever he's able to enter the game. The other trio of scholarship seniors haven’t spent as much time at Alabama as Sears. But have all had memorable moments over their respective Tide careers.

Oats is confident his veteran group can rally Alabama after back-to-back losses. He ended his statement about the Tide’s seniors with a call to action that is fitting for a group that has earned high expectations. Now it's up to the Tide’s leaders to answer that call and take advantage of opportunities to re-ignite Alabama’s pop and turn a spoiled senior day into postseason success.

“But, it was good the amount of people who stayed and recognized [Sears] and the other three seniors. Grant’s had a really good two years here and then Youngblood’s from Tuscaloosa originally and back home. It would have been nice for him to play a little better. He is one of those that just seemed like he’s a little tied. So, we gotta try to figure out how to get his legs back up under him. Cliff, one of the nicest kids you’d ever meet. I thought that O-board where we hit the 3 off it, off Grant’s miss at the free-throw line was big. I thought maybe it could give us a little bit of lift and get us going. He made some plays like that.

"So, everybody’s capable of doing more. We’ve just gotta get them all doing more.”