How Duke basketball totally shut down Mark Sears in Elite Eight
03/30/2025 10:47 AM
One of the most highly-anticipated matchups of the Elite Eight in this NCAA Tournament was the heavyweight battle between Duke and Alabama. Despite some moments from the Crimson Tide, the final result of the contest never seemed to be in doubt on Saturday night as the Blue Devils ran away with an 85-65 win.
Alabama had only ben held under 70 points one other time this season, so it was clear that the Duke defense was the standout unit on the floor in this one. Just two nights after Alabama drilled 25 3-pointers and dropped 113 points against BYU in the Sweet 16, it couldn’t find anything close to that same rhythm against a very good Duke squad.
Star point guard Mark Sears had one of his worst games of the season in the loss, which will wrap up his college career. He finished with just six points and six assists on 2-for-12 shooting and 1-for-5 from beyond the arc. After the game, some of the Duke guards talked about how they were able to limit the All-American, via ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.
“It was by committee,” Duke guard Sion James said, per Borzello. “We were switching a lot, especially in the second half, so Khaman was on Sears just as much as me or Tyrese was. The big thing for him was showing them bodies, making sure whoever was guarding the ball knew they weren’t on an island by themselves and making sure Sears knew that he wasn’t on an island with our big or whoever else. And I think we did a good job for the most part of keeping him off the foul line where he gets a lot of his points from.”
Why Mark Sears struggled against Duke
Mark Sears can score with the best in the nation, but he is still on the smaller side. On Saturday night, Sears struggled to find space to get his shot off and couldn’t knock them down even when he got open looks, and Duke’s size had a lot to do with it.
Duke has arguably the best positional size in the country, and that really bothered Alabama’s 6-foot-1 star. Sion James and Tyrese Proctor, the two primary defenders on Sears throughout the night, are both listed at 6-foot-6, and their length troubled Sears in one-on-one situations.
When Sears tried to get going in ball screen actions, the Duke guards chased him over the top, preventing the pull-up 3-pointer, and funneled him down into the paint where Khaman Maluach and Cooper Flagg were waiting. With Alabama’s reluctance to shoot the ball from the mid-range, the Crimson Tide had no reliable way to get open looks for their star consistently.
Sears isn’t the first player to be bothered by Duke’s length and he won’t be the last. However, he will still be disappointed to end his college career on such a sour note.
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