When the shocking news broke last summer than Alabama basketball point guard Labaron Philon had opted to return to the Crimson Tide rather than enter the NBA Draft, coach Nate Oats’ team was instantly transformed. His top scorer, top athlete and top pro prospect was back, and the rest of the UA lineup, to its benefit, suddenly fell into a complementary and more dangerous alignment.
A winning alignment, too.
Alabama is now 26 games into the season, and there hasn’t been a win yet more attributable to the sophomore phenom than Wednesday’s 117-115 comeback win in double-overtime over Arkansas in his latest outing on Wednesday, Feb. 18.
Arkansas point guard Darius Acuff might’ve stolen the show with a whopping 49 points, but it was Philon who stole the win.
“I told (Philon) before the game, we don’t need to outscore this guy,” Oats said. “We need you to be the better leader.”
He scored a career-high 35 points, shooting 11-of-21 from the field, and connected on 10 of 13 free throws with seven assists. Forget that he missed a potential game-winning floater in the lane as regulation time expired. He led an Alabama run that slashed a double-digit Arkansas lead in the second half; and at virtually every critical juncture thereafter, he made winning plays in one way or another.
Philon drained a free throw with 8:45 remaining that tied the contest 77-77, and from there, it was as if Alabama forgot all about all the nightmarish stretches to that point that had yielded multiple double-digit Arkansas leads. This was the flashpoint at which the Crimson Tide took command and claimed its fifth consecutive SEC win, and Philon’s fingerprints were all over it.
He followed with a 3-pointer to give Alabama an 80-79 edge, its first lead since it held a 20-19 advantage just seven minutes in, then knocked down a pair of free throws to open the lead further. With 2:20 left, he calmly sank a layup in traffic to up UA up 91-88, and later laid one in to break a 110-110 tie. But it wasn’t just scoring prowess from Philon that allowed Alabama to escape victorious. Houston Mallette drained a critical 3-pointer in the first overtime, then another in double-overtime that secured the win.
Philon recorded an assist on both those 3-pointers.
It was his game.
And if the Crimson Tide is to find the kind of postseason success it’s usually enjoyed under Oats, it won’t be the first time he takes over a big game at a crucial moment.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What Labaron Philon’s heroics can mean for Alabama basketball in March Madness