Bucket after bucket after bucket after bucket after bucket after bucket.
That's my play-by-play of Alabama vs. BYU on Thursday night in the first Sweet 16 game of the NCAA Tournament. Alabama set an NCAA Tournament record with 25 made 3-pointers, going 25/51 from deep.
Bama now awaits in the Elite 8 for the winner of Duke versus Arizona — either way, the Tide will hope this historical 3-point outburst was not a one-off in the Sweet 16.
Most team 3-pointers made in a single game in NCAA Tournament history
- Alabama Crimson Tide — 25 (2025)
- Loyola Marymount — 21 (1990)
- Duke — 18 (2001), West Virginia — 18 (2005), Villanova — 18 (2018)
The Tide beat this record pretty comfortably, too. They had 17 made 3s with about 16 minutes remaining, and just... kept... making... them. BYU did a pretty solid job going blow-for-blow, too, and this game wasn't a full-on blowout until the last 7 or 8 minutes. But Bama was transcendent from deep, and that's hard to overcome.
What is the most points scored in an NCAA Tournament game?
Somehow, even after dismantling the 3-point record in the tourney, the Tide weren't particularly close to breaking the single-game points record in the tournament, which is still 149 (huh?) by Loyola Marymount in 1990.
That's the same team that did have the record for 3s made in a tourney game before tonight — and they happened in the same game, rather unsurprisingly. LMU hit 21 3-pointers and beat Michigan, 149-115. Michigan hit four 3-pointers in that game, for the record. Tough to stay close when you're getting outscored by 51 from deep.
That record likely isn't falling anytime soon. Bama just played pretty much a perfect game, and they run like maniacs whenever possible... and they weren't even close to topping 149 points. If any team in the NCAA Tournament scores 150 points in the next 10 years, I'll shave my head (I'm already bald).
NCAA Tournament record for most 3s made by one player
That record was in danger of being broken by Bama's Mark Sears on Thursday — who made 10 3-pointers — but he came up just short, and the record of 11 made 3-pointers, set by Jeff Fryer of... you won't believe this... Loyola Marymount in 1989. Those Lions were about 25 years ahead of their time, and many of the scoring records they set still stand, more than two decades later.
Sears left the game in the final minutes because Alabama was comfortably ahead of BYU, and it's not a stretch to say that Sears would have at least tied Fryer's record if he was allowed to play until the buzzer. Sears ended the night 10/16 from deep with 34 points.
Of course, Sears wasn't the only Tide player who assaulted the nets on Thursday night. Chris Youngblood went 5/11 from deep, and Aden Holloway went 6/13. Each of those is a memorable performance on its own — and neither was the most impressive on the team! Just an outrageous night all around for Alabama.