The 3-pointer: Three takeaways from Alabama's win over TAMU-Corpus Christi

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — For the first time since the 1986-87 season, Alabama men's basketball captured an NCAA Tournament win in Birmingham.

Thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers, Alabama was able to drown any chances of an upset, doing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 96-75. The win is also the Crimson Tide's 30th of the season which marks the first time in program history it has reached that mark.

Here are three takeaways from Alabama's first-round win at the NCAA Tournament.

Alabama was unconscious from the floor in the first 20 minutes. In a half that saw Alabama wrack up 50 points or more for the fifth time this season, the Crimson Tide converted on more than 50% of its shots from the field, including a 59% mark from behind the 3-point line.

The Crimson Tide had eight different scorers find their way onto the scoresheet with Noah Clowney and Mark Sears scoring in double digits in the first frame. For Sears, it was a proverbial breath of fresh air after scoring just 15 points combined during the SEC Championship Tournament.

Sears tallied 15 points by the 12-minute mark of the second half as he was buoyed by a 3-for-4 mark from deep. During his brief time in Nashville, Sears went a cold 3-for-19 from behind the 3-point line but found his rhythm on Thursday.

After the game, Sears shared he had to rework his jump shot starting "from ground zero." Regardless of his struggles, Sears never lost confidence.

"We won the SEC Tournament Sunday and the following Monday I went in the gym at 10 a.m., made 300 jump shots," Sears said. Then at noon got treatment and I came back in at 7:30 p.m. and I got another 300 shots. ... (I) continued to shoot with confidence. And like I said earlier, trust the work that I put in."

After failing to score 10 points or more against Texas A&M on Sunday, Alabama freshman Noah Clowney sought revenge against its satellite school. On Thursday, Clowney got into a rhythm early, converting on three of his first four shots from the floor. All four of those takes were from behind the arc which continued a hot shooting streak for the 6-foot-10 forward.

Over his last three games, Clowney has shot 50% or better from behind the arc. In his previous five contests, he sports a 9-for-20 mark from deep a complete turnaround from the 0-for-20 stretch he had two months ago.

"I don't think about that s--t," Clowney said when asked about his January shooting slump. "I've been feeling crazy confident in my shot since the first game of the SEC Tournament. I went 1-for-4 but every shot felt great and I knew then they were going to start falling. I think the next game I was 3-for-6 and the game after that I was 1-for-2."

However, early foul trouble stifled the freshman's opportunity for a really big day. Clowney picked up three fouls in the first half, forcing Oats to pull him off the floor with five minutes left until halftime. The freshman got the nod to start the second half, but that was also short-lived, picking up his fourth foul with 19:31 left in regulation.

With a hole left in the Alabama front court, Oats turned to Nick Pringle to provide a spark and the South Carolina native delivered.

In 19 minutes of playing time, Pringle tallied his second double-double of the season, scoring a team-high 19 points and adding a team-high 13 rebounds.

"It means a lot," Pringle said about what his career night meant to him. "We have a deep team and a mixture of younger and older guys. Going up against guys like Charles 'Block-iako' every day prepared me for moments like this."

Miller's debut in the Big Dance was one he'll want to forget. After being named the SEC Tournament MVP, Miller couldn't get it going against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. For the first time this season, the freshman phenom was held scoreless tallying a woeful 0-for-5 from the floor but adding five rebounds in the win.

It also marks the second this season, Miller was held scoreless in the opening frame. It was his first goose egg since his 0-for-4 start against Houston on Dec. 10, which until Thursday, was his previous season-low of eight points.

"It was nice to be able to put up 96 without Brandon scoring a point," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. "He's got a groin injury that he's been nursing since Sunday in the SEC Tournament. We were trying to play him limited minutes. We were able to keep him under 20. Hopefully, he can get a lot of rehab today and tomorrow and look a lot more like himself on Saturday."