Having to play in a season opener didn't stop Alabama basketball point guard Mark Sears from showing his support for women's sports.
Before the No. 2 Crimson Tide (1-0) defeated UNC-Asheville (0-1), 110-54, to open the 2024-25 season on Monday, the SEC Preseason Player of the Year stopped by Alabama women's basketball's season-opener against New Orleans.
He witnessed a rarity, too.
Coach Kristy Curry's team denied New Orleans (0-1) in dominant fashion, winning 115-53 to put up over 100 points for the first time in 15 years.
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Although Alabama football players like Ryan Williams, Dre Kirkpatrick Jr., Rico Scott and Kneeland Hibbett made it for the men's game, Sears was the only non-competing university athlete to be seen in attendance for the women.
Showing their support with a t-shirt toss midway through the first half of action against the Bulldogs, Curry and the women walked out to the sea of applause they deserved for their earlier dub, but couldn't get due to a crowd of only about 100 ticket holders turning out for the first game of the season.
During postgame availability, coach Nate Oats said Sears, who posted a game-high 20 points, three rebounds and an assist against UNC-Asheville, came back to win a national championship "first," but he "enjoys being in college, too."
"It's great for someone with Mark's notoriety to be here supporting the women," Oats told media.
"We've got different guys at soccer games, baseball games, softball, whatever it is, so I think it's great we encourage our guys to be college students. Not just athletes."
Curry discussed how the basketball teams rallied each other on to their respective NCAA Tournament appearances at SEC Media Days in October.
Last season, Alabama's women exited in the second round while the men made a historic run to the Final Four.
"Nate [Oats] has been unbelievable, his staff, their support of our program," Curry told reporters in Birmingham. "It's fun because when you have the opportunity to coach at the University of Alabama, you see the success across the sport programs... Association brings on assimilation."
Further solidifying the growing belief that Alabama is a basketball school, Oats' team isn't the only team boasting a preseason ranking.
For the first time since 1998, Curry's team was ranked in the AP preseason poll at No. 24 and came in at No. 25 in the Coaches Poll a couple weeks later.
Sears' teammate Latrell Wrightsell Jr. spoke to the importance of Alabama hoops showing up for each other on Monday.
"It's about the Alabama culture," Wrightsell said. "We always want to support each other, we always want to see each other be successful. Seeing them means a lot, it shows we care for each other, and it goes a long way."
Alabama men's basketball tips off next on Friday, Nov. 8, against Arkansas State with the women returning to Coleman Coliseum on Sunday, Nov. 10, against Troy.
Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for the Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama basketball's Mark Sears supports women's hoops in season opener
