HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The No. 16/16 Alabama men’s basketball team held a double-digit lead for 31:26 in a 92-81 win over the Kennesaw State Owls inside Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center in the 2025 Rocket City Classic. 

With the win, head coach Nate Oats won his 250^th career game, having 96 wins with Buffalo (2015-2019) and 154 with Alabama (2019-present).

Alabama (9-3) was led by Aiden Sherrell’s career-high 21 points off 8-for-10 shooting from the floor, to go along with seven rebounds. The Tide had three others in double figures, including Labaron Philon Jr. (17 points), Aden Holloway (17 points) and Jalil Bethea (11 points).

Kennesaw State (8-4) was led by Simeon Cottle’s 20 points off 6-for-15 shooting from the field, including four three-pointers.

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments 

“We came out and kind of got punched in the mouth. We got up early and they just kept on playing hard from there. That’s a tribute to the culture that Antoine [Pettway] has built over there. They didn’t quit. I’m a little disappointed in our effort in playing with the lead. We got outrebounded again which has been an issue, so we still have a lot of work to do, but I think our intentions for the game were great. We had some good defensive stops, but we just haven’t been able to maintain it for 40 minutes. Individually, I thought some guys had good performances though. Aiden Sherrell had his career-high to go along with a couple blocks. I thought our guards did a good job with dishing out 17 assists and only eight turnovers, so there’s definitely some positives. Defensive intensity, focus, attention to detail on the defensive end wasn’t there in the second half, so we have to start playing better on that end of the floor.”

Team Stats 

• The contest marks Alabama’s third trip to Huntsville in Oats’ tenure and the second regular season matchup, in which the Tide have won both (W, 92-72 vs. Belmont, Dec. 21, 2019)
• Alabama led the entirety of the contest, with its biggest lead being 30 points, coming in the second half with 17:45 left to go
• The Tide were outrebounded by the Owls 46-41 with 15 Kennesaw State rebounds coming on the offensive glass
• Alabama had nine different scorers in the game, with five of them scoring at least six points and grabbing at least two rebounds
• Nate Oats‘ squad shot 32-for-73 (44 percent) from the field, 10-for-31 (32 percent) from three and 18-for-23 (78 percent) from the charity stripe
• The Owls were led by head coach Antoine Pettway who played for Alabama from 2000-2004 and was an assistant coach for the Crimson Tide from 2008-2023 

First Half  

• After opening the game shooting 4-for-15 from the field, Alabama quickly caught fire by shooting 11 for its next 15 attempts from the floor to take a 39-17 lead with 5:18 left in the opening stanza
• The Crimson Tide defensive effort caused the Owls to shoot just 3-for-20 from the field through the first 12:14 of play
• Alabama stayed on the gas offensively down the stretch as well, closing the last 4:42 of the period on a 15-9 run to enter the break with a 54-28 lead
• The Tide‘s 54-point scoring output in the first half was its second highest mark in a first half this season
• Aiden Sherrell tallied a career-high 15 points in the first half alone, shooting 6-for-7 from the field to go along with four rebounds to lead the team in scoring at halftime
• Alabama led the entirety of the first half with its biggest lead being 27 points, following a three-pointer by Aden Holloway with 3:07 to go
• Nate Oats‘ squad forced eight turnovers from the Owls in the frame, while only surrendering two itself
• The Tide shot 19-for-39 (49 percent) from the floor and 7-for-18 (39 percent) from three compared Kennesaw State’s 10-for-34 (29 percent) shooting from the field and 2-for-12 (17 percent) from beyond the arc

Second Half  

• Kennesaw State got off to a hot start to open the second half, shooting 11-for-18 from the field and outscoring Alabama 25-20 through the first 10 minutes of play
• Both squads continued to trade baskets down the stretch, as the Tide held its 20-point lead, 80-60, with 6:06 left in the half
• Alabama maintained its double-digit lead all the way to the final buzzer to secure the victory
• The Tide had seven different scorers in the second half, with four of them scoring six or more points
• Aden Holloway led the scoring effort for Alabama in the closing stanza with eight points, including shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line
• The Tide struggled to hit shots in the second half, shooting 13-for-34 (38 percent) from the floor and 3-for-13 (23 percent) from three

Up Next

• Alabama wraps up its non-conference slate against the Yale Bulldogs on Monday, Dec. 29
• Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. CT inside Coleman Coliseum and can be seen on SEC Network+