Alabama men’s basketball did what it was supposed to do Friday at Coleman Coliseum against Mercer. The Crimson Tide beat down the Bears 98-67, moving to 4-0 on the season before its first road trip.
Mark Sears led the way for the Crimson Tide in the win, finishing the game with 24 points, six assists and five rebounds. Sears hit eight of his 12 field goal attempts, including one of two three-pointers.
“Thought it’s been a good first four games for us,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said after the game. “Particularly with a new squad. I think the chemistry has been good.”
Grant Nelson led the way in rebounds for Alabama with seven. Just behind him with six was Nick Pringle, who also turned in 14 points offensively.
Pringle also had two blocked shots and a steal. He made seven of his eight shots from the field.
Oats had been looking for better play from Pringle, especially defensively. After the game, he was asked what he thought caused the sudden improvement.
“I think he realized he needed to be better for use on defense,” Oats said. “If we’re gonna be good on defense, we need some rim protection, we need bigs in there that can make those blue-collar plays we’ve been talking about and I think he’s taken that upon himself to be that guy for us.”
Before the game, Oats said he was hoping to see improvement from the Crimson Tide’s defense. That came to pass, albeit with a grain of salt given the opponent, but Alabama forced nine turnovers throughout the game.
The Tide got off to a hot start, leading 13-3 before the Bears took a timeout in an attempt to stabilize things with 16:43 left in the first half.
Sears had a lights-out first half for the Crimson Tide. He was over 10 points by the under 12 timeout in the first half, dicing up the inside of the Mercer defense.
Aaron Estrada got into foul trouble early, picking up his third before the under 12 timeout, but Sears was able to pick up the slack for the entire group of guards. The senior from Muscle Shoals finished the half with 19 points.
Sears beat the buzzer for his final points of the half, giving the Crimson Tide a 56-29 lead at the break. He made eight of his 10 attempts from the field, with Alabama hitting 79% in the first half, 75% from three-point range.
“It’s just hard to guard Mark Sears man,” Alabama guard Rylan Griffen said after the game. “I guard him in practice. He’s gonna get to the paint, get fouled, make the layup or make the right read.”
The Crimson Tide got off to a slower start in the second half, but it wouldn’t matter in the end. Alabama was clearly the better team and cruised to victory, remaining undefeated in the early going of the 2023-24 campaign.
Sears slowed down in the second half, allowing some of Alabama’s other players to get action. Estrada came back off the bench in the second and played well, finishing the game with 10 points and four assists.
Freshman Jarin Stevenson continued to play well against the Bears, finishing with 14 points.
Alabama will be back in action Friday against Ohio State in the Emerald City Classic in Destin, Fla. at 6 p.m. CT. The game will be aired on FloHoops.