NORMAN, Okla. – The No. 18/18 Alabama men’s basketball team erased an 11-point halftime deficit to pick up its first win in Norman in program history, defeating the Sooners 83-81 inside Lloyd Noble Arena Saturday afternoon. 

The Crimson Tide (13-5, 3-2 SEC) saw Labaron Philon Jr. drop 23 points, his third game in a row scoring 20-plus points. Aiden Sherrell, who was coming off a career-high 22 points in his last game, scored 21 and added a game-high nine rebounds in the win. Alabama’s Amari Allen and Houston Mallette each contributed 12 points while Allen added eight rebounds and a team-leading four assists.

Oklahoma (11-7, 1-4 SEC) was led by Xzayvier Brown’s 21 points, four rebounds and four assists while former Alabama player Derrion Reid added 16 points and a team-best nine boards in the losing effort. 

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments 

“First off, you have to give Coach Moser, his staff and their whole program a ton of credit. For a team to be on a three-game losing streak and have their backs against the wall, they could have easily caved. We had them down five in the first half and they kept fighting and ended up going into half up 11. Then we came out and made a run on them in the first couple minutes of the second half and they called a timeout and went on another run. They played pretty well from there so we have to look in the mirror and see what I have to do better as a coach to get our guys a lot more ready to start these games. 

Inserting Houston (Mallette) into the starting lineup in the second half, wasn’t as much of who came out of the lineup as it was putting Houston in there just to get our energy where it needed to be. I thought if we could play that hard in the first 20 minutes, we would not have been down 11 but I have got to figure out what we got to do to get us playing harder for 40 minutes and not waiting until we get down. We had some guys step up there late and made some big three’s. It came down to winning time the last three to four minutes and we had some guys make some plays.” 

Team Stats 

• It marked the second consecutive time Alabama earned a come-from-behind road victory after trailing by double digits (trailed at Mississippi State by 14 points before earning a 97-82 win)
• The contest featured 12 lead changes and nine ties, with the Tide leading just 11:33 of the contest compared to the Sooners holding the lead for 22:14
• Alabama outscored the Sooners 38-34 in the paint
• Labaron Philon Jr. scored 17 of his 23 in the second half while Aiden Sherrell had 14 of his 21 after the intermission, as Alabama went on to outscore Oklahoma 50-37 in the second half
• Both teams were able to make it to the line, but Alabama went just 15-26 (57.7 percent) from the free throw line compared to Oklahoma’s 19-of-22 (86.4 percent)
• The Tide took advantage of Oklahoma’s mistakes, scoring 13 points off nine OU turnovers, while the Sooners had 12 points off 11 UA turnovers
• Alabama’s half-court defense showed out, holding the Sooners to 28-of-72 (38.9 percent) shooting from the field and 6-of-24 (25 percent) from beyond the arc
• In comparison, the Tide shot 44 percent (29-of-66) from the field and 30 percent (10-of-33) from deep

First Half  

• The first half included six ties and five lead changes
• Aiden Sherrell and Labron Philon Jr. opened the scoring for the Tide, taking a quick 4-0 lead, holding the Sooners scoreless for the first 2:24
• The two teams traded buckets through the first two media timeouts, with neither team gaining an advantage of more than four points
• Trailing 21-17, Alabama went on a 9-0 run from 12:07-9:15 (2:52) to take a 26-21 lead
• Oklahoma answered with a 9-0 run of its own to take a 31-28 lead with 5:17 left before the break
• With the game tied at 33-33, Oklahoma ended the half on an 11-0 run over the final 4:08 to take a 44-33 lead at the intermission
• In all, the Sooners finished the final 8:33 by outscoring the Crimson Tide 20-5
• Aiden Sherrell led Alabama with seven points at halftime, one of seven players to score for the Tide in the half

Second Half  

• After scoring its fewest points in the first half this season, Alabama opened the first 2:02 of the second half on a 13-2 run to erase the 11-point halftime lead and take a 48-46 lead
• The squads traded runs for the next few minutes, as Oklahoma took a 55-48 lead before the Tide responded to retake the lead, 59-55 
• Sherrell scored 12 points in the first eight minutes of the half, including a 7-0 run by himself
• Alabama gave up its lead, going 3:04 without a made field goal and seeing the Sooners regain a 67-63 advantage with 7:28 left in the game
• Two straight three-pointers from Philon brought the Tide back to even, 73-73, with 3:16 left to play
• Up 76-75, Philon would make a huge and-one to stretch the lead to two possessions with 20 seconds left (79-75) 
• Alabama went on a 16-8 run over the last 4:51 to seal the win

Up Next

• Alabama will have a bye during the midweek before returning home to face No. 24 Tennessee on Saturday, Jan. 24
• Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT at Coleman Coliseum and can be seen on ESPN/ESPN2