No matter who you ask, you’ll get a different answer.
Mark Sears will tell you one thing. Chris Youngblood will say another. Same with Aden Holloway and even Alabama assistant coach Preston Murphy.
The question at hand: Who wins your shooting competition the most?
Trying to seek the truth and report it in this situation proved challenging. Each contestant peddles a story that contradicts the next.
Sears, Youngblood and Holloway often part in a shooting competition around peach practice that usually includes Murphy, even though he’s a coach; Murphy, 47, played for Rhode Island in the 1990s. The competitor in each emerges through their answers to an inquisition into the most common result.
“I’d say I win about 55%,” Youngblood said.
“I’d say some days it would be me, some days it would be (Holloway), sometimes CY,” Sears said.
“There’s no doubt who the undisputed shooting champion of the program is, and it’s none of those guys,” Murphy said.
They all can’t agree on who wins in the shooting competitions the most, but you won’t find any disagreement on this: The trio’s practice clashes helped fuel the Crimson Tide’s historic, and flat out ridiculous, shooting performance against BYU.
Sears, Holloway and Youngblood combined for 21 triples to lead No. 2 seed Alabama to a 113-88 victory over the No. 6 seeded Cougars on Thursday in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
The three guards spearheaded a historic effort that included 25 3-pointers, which is the most ever for any team in an NCAA Tournament game. It’s also the most triples in any Alabama game ever. Sears hit 10 of them, which was one shy of the record in one NCAA Tournament game for a player.
And it can all be traced back to the practice shooting competitions Sears, Holloway and Youngblood hold on the regular.
“When you’re going up against good shooters, iron sharpens iron,” Sears said. “It’s building game-like pressure for nights like this.
Unlike in practices, the trio was shooting with each other, not against each other. That setup in game is a stark change from the intense practice battles.
They occur just about every day, Murphy said. They usually happen at the beginning or end of individual workouts. The shooting competitions are never that long, but they happen often.
Here’s what happens: The trio and Murphy will shoot the best out of 10 from one spot on the court. Whoever makes the most wins in that spot. Then they move to the next location with three total spots from which to shoot and see how many in a row they can make.
“(Holloway) hit like 30 or 40 in a row one time,” Youngblood said. “It’s crazy.”
Holloway didn’t quite hit 30 in a row against BYU, but he was rolling from beyond the arc. He made 6 of 13 (46%) from deep against the Cougars.
That combined with Sears (62.5%) from deep and Youngblood going 5 for 11 (45%), the trio overwhelmed BYU.
Their efforts contributed to a convincing victory over the Cougars, to secure a spot in the Elite Eight for the second consecutive year and the third time in program history. By the time the buzzer blared at Prudential Center on Thursday night, the winner was undisputed.
Unlike in their practice competitions.
Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for Follow him on X and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.
