What Alabama coach Nate Oats said after defeating BYU in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16

NEWARK, N.J. — Nate Oats knew Mark Sears’ recent shooting slump couldn’t persist.

After Sears scored 34 points with 10 made 3-pointers Thursday against BYU in the Sweet 16, boy, was Oats correct.

“Listen, I’ve got to teach these guys some math,” Alabama’s head coach told reporters following his team’s 113-88 win over the Cougars. “I told Sears there’s a thing called regression to the mean. His last six games he was shooting 14%, 5 of 35. He’s not a 14% shooter, obviously. (BYU) had been going under ball screens just about every game we watched. I told both those guys, (Aden) Holloway and Sears, ‘Man, I hope they go under us because we’re going to rain them.’

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“... I told Mark he’s playing chess, not checkers, he just kind of set everybody up with that 5 of 35 thinking he was in a slump and he’s going to come out and shoot — 63% ain’t bad. Ten 3s, I think the first guy in NCAA tournament history that had at least eight 3s and seven assists. Not only was he scoring it, he was moving it.”

To take down the Cougars, Oats unleashed a drastic offensive attack — Alabama attempted 51 3-pointers, opposed to just 15 shots from 2-point range.

The Crimson Tide set an NCAA Tournament record by making 25 triples against BYU, with Sears, Holloway and Chris Youngblood accounting for 21 of them.

“BYU with their personnel, we knew that once they started going under (ball screens), they always collapse. They kind of have to,” Oats said. “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, our offense is designed to beat a defense like this.”

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In addition to benefitting from its 3-point barrage, Alabama held BYU to a 6 of 30 shooting mark behind the arc.

“Our defense is designed not to give up 3s,” Oats said. “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 ... but we don’t want to give up 3s. Our defense did a fairly decent job of it at times, but not to the level we need to. We try to play analytically sound basketball on both sides of the ball.”

With the win, Alabama advances to the Elite Eight and continues on in its pursuit of a second consecutive Final Four appearance.

“So proud of our guys. We’re in the Elite 8 for the third time in school history and back to back (years),” Oats said. “Sears has been in the middle of it. ... I thought Labaron (Philon) did a good job moving the ball tonight, too. He went 2 of 3 himself. He ended up with six assists. I thought everybody played well in their roles tonight.

“I don’t know that we’re going to repeat 51 3s attempted (in the Elite Eight), but we’re going to have the guys ready to play the right way in my opinion and fresh. And if we get stops, it’s a lot easier to get out in transition.”