NEWARK, N.J.— Some nights your shots fall, and some nights your shots fall short.
For No. 2 seed Alabama, its deep shots fell at a historic rate in a 113-88 victory over No. 6 BYU, whose shots fell short on Thursday night at the Prudential Center.
The style of play to start the game went as expected. Both high-powered offenses were able to put points on the board, but both in different ways.
Alabama, led by first team All-American guard Mark Sears, hit 12 3-pointers in the first half. Sears had 17 points on 5 of 7 shooting from deep.
The Cougars did their damage inside, outscoring Alabama 28-8 in first half paint points.
But as everyone knows: threes are more than twos. Alabama entered halftime with an 11-point lead and never looked back.
While there were moments of momentum for the Cougars, BYU faced a tall task in beating a team that literally had the greatest 3-point shooting performance in NCAA Tournament history.
Alabama's 25 made 3-pointers were the most ever for a team in an NCAA Tournament game, beating the previous record set by Loyola Marymount in 1990 by four.
Mark Sears hit 10 3-pointers — one shy of the NCAA Tournament record — on his way to 35 points.
When asked if the game plan was to let Alabama shoot, BYU's leading scorer, Richie Saunders responded, "Yeah, and they made all of them."
"It was an all-time night for them," BYU coach Kevin Young said. "It felt like there was nothing we could do at times."
Alabama's Sears and Aden Holloway combined for 58 points on 16 3-pointers.
Saunders led the way for BYU with an efficient — but difficult — 25 points.
"This is a team that was picked ninth in the Big 12," Young said after Thursday's loss, "and we were one of the last 16 teams standing, so I'm incredibly proud of these guys."
While a deflating way to end the season, the BYU men's basketball program has a bright future. Next season the Cougars will have two top recruits join the team in AJ Dybantsa and Xavion Staton, and already have a solid core to build on.
This likely won't be the last time that Young and crew make the Sweet 16.