Alabama guard Chris Youngblood (8) celebrates against BYU during the East Region Sweet 16 at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on Thursday, Mar 27, 2025. / Photo by Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics

NEWARK, N.J. –– 2-seed Alabama men’s basketball took down 6-seed BYU 113-88 in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 on Thursday night to advance to back-to-back Elite Eights for the first time in program history.

The Crimson Tide broke NCAA Tournament records for threes made (25) and threes attempted (51). Alabama also set those marks with over seven minutes remaining in the second half (the previous record was 21 made threes and 43 attempted) and just kept firing.

There’s so much to dissect from this matchup at Prudential Center. Here are three takeaways:

Alabama guard and Consensus First Team All-American Mark Sears scored 17 points in the first half on a 5-for-7 clip from behind the arc. He had been really struggling from long range prior to Thursday night as he went 2 of 21 combining the last four games.

This only continued to start the second half as after an 8-0 run by the Crimson Tide with over 16 minutes remaining in regulation, Sears was up to 25 points. Up 63-47, it was time for Alabama to put its defense on display, as head coach Nate Oats was very adamant about this side of the ball during Wednesday’s press conference.

However, after taking a 63-47 lead, Alabama went on a cold spell, as the Tide had difficulty defending without fouling as BYU put the game within single digits multiple times before the midway point of the second half and the Cougars were already in the bonus. Alabama needed more than just Sears to answer the call in the second half and fellow guard Aden Holloway was the one to do so, as he disrupted BYU’s momentum multiple times.

From there, things just got crazy from long range. Sears and Holloway could not miss. Before we knew it, Alabama was up 97-76 and Sears (31 points) and Holloway (21) combined for 52 points with over seven minutes remaining. Sears’ 10 threes is tied for the second-most in a game in NCAA Tournament history. Crimson Tide guard Chris Youngblood also shined as he finished the game with 19 points on 5-for-11 from deep.

“They had been going under ball screens just about every game we watched,” Oats said on Friday. “I told both those guys, Holloway and Sears, ‘Man, I hope they go under us because we’re going to rein them.

“So we were in the gym last night, the night before. These guys show up for voluntary shooting every time it’s available to make sure that they’re ready to go, and that work pays off. We want to base our program on hard work.

“BYU with their personnel, we knew that once they started going under — they always collapse. They kind of have to. They got away with it against some teams that don’t space like we do. But I told these guys going in, if you move the ball — we end up with 27 assists. I’m not sure that ranks in tournament history. But if you’ll move the ball, our offense is designed to beat a defense like this.”

The Cougars came into this game 58.4 percent from inside the arc which is good for the eighth-best mark in the country, while the Crimson Tide rank fourth nationally.

However, only one team showed up to the paint partly on both of ends of the floor. Defensively, Alabama held the three-point line while exposing the interior, while the Cougars did the opposite as BYU came into Thursday 11th in threes made per game.

BYU shot 6 of 30 from deep, meaning driving down low was perhaps the only option. The Cougars scored 50 points in the paint, led by Richie Saunders. This led to 13 turnovers and 17 points off of them by Alabama compared to 11 points.

Nevertheless, Oats seems please with his team’s defensive performance with a maximum of two games to go in the 2024-25 college basketball season.

“Our defense is designed not to give up threes. Sometimes we do a good job of it, sometimes we don’t. But we try to guard all the pick-and-rolls with just two guys. We saw some other teams always pulling a third guy in.

“And [Egor] Demin is so good, a 6’8″ point guard catching that. We were trying not to give those up, didn’t want to give up any transition threes. And then obviously not trying to give up penetrate, over-help, kick. I remember we gave up one of those in the second half, and we gave up a transition one back to back. Wasn’t real happy with that.”

On March 27, 2019, The University of Alabama hired Buffalo’s Nate Oats as its new head basketball coach. The move came just three days after Alabama parted ways with Avery Johnson, who spent four years with the team.

It was completely unknown at the time what the Crimson Tide’s transformation would become under Oats.

Over the last six years, he has led Alabama to its first Final Four in program history, the most wins against AP ranked opponents and of course, has now brought the Tide to back-to-back Elite Eights. Not to mention a ton of other accolades such as being ranked in the top-10 every week this season despite having the toughest strength of schedule in the country.

Oats’ impact on UA has been insurmountable and BamaCentral asked multiple Alabama basketball players about their head coach following Thursday night’s win.

Mark Sears: “He changed the program. He’s a proven winner. He wins at a very high level. His personality carries over to the team and we want to win. Whatever you do, having that competitive mindset [is key].”

Grant Nelson: “As soon as he got on campus, he flipped the whole program around. That just shows a lot of his character, what he’s done, the culture he’s built at Alabama for basketball. Great guy. Great coach. I’m happy to play for him.”

Labaron Philon: “I think he means a lot. He got us all here to play for him, that’s one thing. Another thing, he coaches very hard. Sometimes he got on me in the game and I just had to suck it up and play through it. He was mostly getting on me about turnovers, but I just tried to fight through it and not just respond with negative energy. We’re winning. Keep a positive attitude. Train your teammates. But I would say everyone loves coach.”

Aden Holloway: “He means a lot. He’s the best coach in the country. I would say if you’re a guard or a big that wants to try to make it to the next level, you shouldn’t want to play for any other coach than Nate Oats. He’s the best coach in the country for sure.”

Jarin Stevenson: “I feel like this win means a lot. Back-to-back Elite Eights––that’s huge. He came in and made a difference. Made deep runs in the tournament. He’s really turned this program around and set this program up for success.”