BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama didn’t slow down even with a scoreless night from star guard Mark Sears.
The preseason All-American watched much of the second half from the bench as the eighth-ranked Crimson Tide held off No. 25 Illinois 100-87 on Wednesday night at Legacy Arena. His teammates Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway were doing just fine on their own.
Triple-digit points with zero from Sears was a statement in itself for a team that Sears led to the Final Four last season. The preseason Southeastern Conference player of the year was a cheerleader after exiting with 11:27 left.
“He was great on the bench,” Tide coach Nate Oats said. “He was struggling. There’s a lot of pressure on him, obviously, being a home-state kid that came back. Preseason player of the year. He’s trying to do well. Teams are gearing their defenses toward him.
“I took him out to kind of let him get his head together a little bit. I tried to put him back in and he just said, ‘Look, they’re playing well.’”
Sears took five shots and missed them all in 21 minutes. Four were from 3-point range. It was an anomaly for a player who returned to the Tide to chase a national title instead of turning pro and came in averaging 17.3 points.
But it also showcased the ability of teammates such as Philon and Holloway to pick up his slack. Holloway, an Auburn transfer, scored 18. Prized freshman Philon had 16 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
Sears, who was 5 of 15 in a loss to No. 6 Purdue last week, hadn’t been held scoreless at Alabama.
“I thought they should have won at Purdue when he didn’t play very good,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “He’s in a position on the scouting report where everybody’s going to pay attention. He’s at the top of it. He’s the head of the snake. Everybody said he’s a first-team All-American. He’s a really, really good player.”
Underwood raved about Philon, predicting he won’t be in an Alabama uniform for long before heading to the NBA.
“Philon showed why he’s a pro and moving up everybody’s draft boards,” Underwood said. “That’s a bad boy right there.”
Grant Nelson led the Tide (4-1) with 23 points, opening the matchup of Elite Eight teams from last season with three straight 3-pointers. Latrell Wrightsell Jr. added 16 points for Alabama.
Will Riley led Illinois (3-1) with 18 points and nine rebounds. Kylan Boswell added 17 points, Kasparas Jakucionis scored 15 and Tomislav Ivisic had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Takeaways
Illinois: Fell to 17-19 in Top 25 matchups since the start of the 2019-20 season. The Illini had their first tough test of the season after three double-digit wins.
Alabama: Rebounded strongly from the 87-78 loss at Purdue to get a win that should look good on the NCAA Tournament resume. Made 5 of 6 3-pointers to open the game.
Key moment
Alabama scored 13 straight points midway through the first half to build a 36-19 lead. Clifford Omoruyi’s layup capped the run while Illinois missed 11 straight shots.
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Illinois sliced its deficit from 18 to eight in the second half but never got closer.
Key stat
Alabama made 11 of 13 free throws (84.6%). Illinois was 13 of 24 (54.2%).
Up next
Illinois hosts Maryland-Eastern Shore on Saturday. Alabama faces No. 7 Houston on Tuesday in Las Vegas.