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Nate Oats credits Alabama leadership following decision to bench Mark Sears

IMG_6598by: Nick Kosko01/26/25nickkosko59
USATSI_25145025 (1)
Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

Nate Oats credited his team’s leadership following the decision to bench star player Mark Sears for the second half of a win over LSU.

Alabama beat the Tigers 80-73 in front of the Crimson Tide faithful, outscoring LSU by seven in the final 20 minutes. Sears played 17 minutes in the first half but did not score and logged three rebounds and three assists.

So Oats credited the guys who picked it up in the second half to give Alabama their 17th win of the season.

“The team’s leadership was great,” Oats said. “A lot of guys encouraging everybody on the floor. And yeah, we just played the guys we thought gave us the best chance to win that second half.”

What does Oats want to see from Sears in response? Something that he already saw Saturday.

“The same response Cliff gave us in the second half – be all about doing the stuff we need to win basketball games,” Oats said.

Nate Oats keeps it simple regarding Mark Sears

Cliff Omoruyi finished the game with eight points, nine rebounds and three assists in 23 minutes of game time.

Aden Holloway led the team in scoring with 19 points and four rebounds.

Oats explained the switch he saw in Omoruyi, which in turn, could be an example for Sears moving forward.

“Cliff, I didn’t think he was bringing it,” Oats said. “They had a kid with 15 rebounds. Cliff was not rebounding like he needed to, wasn’t playing as hard as we liked, and he ends up going on playing extremely hard in the second half, had a great attitude on the bench and ends up winning the Hard Hat after not starting the second half. So I kind of just told the guys that’s how life goes sometimes. There’s a little adversity and you gotta challenge it well. I was super proud of the way Cliff handled it. 

“And I’ll just say this, and I’m not going to talk anymore about playing time stuff, we went with the guys in the second half that I thought gave us the best chance to win this game. We won the game, and our defense was significantly better than the first half. And we haven’t done that very often this year. So that’s all I’m going to say about that stuff.”