Mark Sears sitting out the second half of Alabama -Sejr over LSU

Tuscaloosa, Ala.-Alabama-Guard Mark Sears went into Saturday evening’s match against LSU, who led the team and SEC in the scoring, but was held scoreless and spent the whole other half of Crimson Tide’s 80-73 victory on the bench.

“We played the guys we thought gave us the best chance of winning in the second half,” said Alabama coach Nate Oats.

Sears, a All-Agency All-American on average 19 points, went 0 for 5 from the field with three rebounds, three assists and two revenue.

Oats pointed to defensive texture, especially into the second half, as a reason for set -up changes.

“I didn’t think our defense in the 2nd half has been very good recently, so we made attention to the guys, we’re done starting the same group starting the game,” Oats said. “Our defense was significantly better in the second half than in the first half, and we haven’t done it much this year.”

Aden Holloway scored 19 points and Mouhamed Diouubate added 14 in the victory for No. 4 Alabama.

It was the second consecutive game that Holloway and Dioubate came from the bench to have big nights to Crimson Tide (17-3, 6-1), after combining 44 points in Tuesday’s win over Vanderbilt.

Jordan Sears scored 21 points to lead LSU (12-7, 1-5). Cam Carter had 17 points and Corey Chest had 12 points and 18 rebounds.

Information from Associated Press was used in this report.