Alabama
6-2,0-0SEC
Clemson
7-2,0-0ACC
No. 12/12 Alabama Pushes Past Clemson 90-84, in ACC/SEC Challenge
12/3/2025 9:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide led by as many as 19 points before holding on down the stretch to claim the victory
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 12/12 Alabama men's basketball team picked up its third consecutive win defeating the Clemson Tigers, 90-84, inside Coleman Coliseum Wednesday night in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Â
The Crimson Tide (6-2) was led on the offensive end by Labaron Philon Jr.'s career-high tying 29 points, connecting on 9-of-17 shots from the field, including a trio of three-pointers and a perfect 8-for-8 shooting from the charity stripe. The performance marks Philon's sixth 20-point game of the season and eighth of his career.Â
The Tide had four others in double figures, including Amari Allen who collected a double-double with career-high 20 points to go with 11 boards. London Jemison tallied 13 points to lead the Crimson Tide's bench while Taylor Bol Bowen (11) and Houston Mallette (10) also reached double figures. Additionally, Aiden Sherrell shined on defense with a career-best eight blocks to go with 10 rebounds and five points
Clemson (7-2) was led by RJ Godfrey offensively, scoring 19 points off 6-for-10 shooting from the field, along with 7-for-9 shooting from the free throw line.Â
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame CommentsÂ
"Obviously when you get up 19 in the first 10 minutes of the game, you'd like the close the next 30 out a lot better than we did. But, with the guys we had (injured), I was happy that we got the win. We're going to have to work on our defensive mentality playing with the lead. Clemson is good. They're going to win a lot of games this year. They're tough, they're a veteran group. I tried to tell our guys that they weren't going to quit at the half and then the first two possessions of the second half, we gave up transition layups, and we were in a dog fight from there. We were down one-point with less than three minutes to go and then finished on an 8-1 run. We made some big stops late when we needed them. I think Aiden Sherrell is really coming. For a kid that only had seven blocks last season to have five blocks last game and eight this game, he's doing what we need him to do at the rim. We've got a lot of offensive fire power that didn't play tonight, but we still had enough in there to get the job done.
"Tonight was a big win against a good team. They gave us everything we could handle, and I have to give them a lot of credit. I thought our fans were huge in the second half when we needed some stops. I thought our guys made some winning plays. I thought Amari Allen made a lot of tough plays and Sherrell too. We're seeing some good things out of some of the guys and when we add the pieces back, we have a chance to be a pretty good team."
Team StatsÂ
- The victory marks head coach Nate Oats' second victory in the ACC/Challenge (2-1 all-time)
- Amari Allen shined throughout the evening for Alabama, achieving his first career double-double with career-high marks in points and rebounds
- Aiden Sherrell's career-high eight blocks places him fifth for blocked shots in a game in program history
- Sherrell, who had seven blocks all of last year, now has 13 swats across the Tide's last two contests
- The Tide was outrebounded (43-39) on the night with Clemson owning an 18-13 edge on the offensive glass, however, it was Alabama owning a 14-6 edge in second chance points
- Alabama buried 12 three-pointers (12-of-34), compared to just four for the Tigers (4-of-19)
- Overall, the contest saw seven lead changes and six different ties, all of which came in the second half, with Alabama holding the lead for 36:33
- The Crimson Tide led by as many as 19 points in the first half (43-24 with 4:39 left in the first half), before the Tigers rallied to take a two-point lead (83-81) with just under three minutes remaining in the contest
- UA would outscore Clemson 8-1 over the final 2:40 to result in the final score
First Half Â
- Alabama took off early offensively, converting 8 of its first 10 attempts from the field and burying its first five three-pointers to jump out to a 21-8 advantage with 12:29 left in the half
- The Crimson Tide defensive effort was just as successful to begin the contest, forcing Clemson to shoot just 5-for-19 from the field and 0-for-6 from three through the first 10 minutes of the frame
- Nate Oats' squad continued to stay on the gas, maintaining a double-digit margin through the remainder of the half to enter the break ahead 45-30
- The Tide was led by Philon Jr., scoring 12 points on an efficient 4-for-5 shooting from the field, including a pair of triples
- Alabama controlled the rebound battle 24-19 over the Tigers in the first half, with nine coming on the offensive glass, leading to nine second chance points
- As a team, the Tide shot 14-for-28 (50 percent) from the field and 8-for-18 (44 percent) from beyond the arc, compared to Clemson's 11-for-37 (30 percent) shooting from the field and 2-for-14 (14 percent) from three
Second Half Â
- It was the Tigers who came out hot in the second half, outscoring Alabama 24-9 through the first 8:04 of the half to tie the game at 54 apiece at the under-12 media timeout
- From that point on the teams traded the lead with the largest lead of six come in the final seconds
- With Clemson leading 83-81 late, before Labaron Philon Jr. scored five consecutive points to give Alabama the lead for good
- Overall, the second half saw six lead changes after having just one in the first half
- Philon led the scoring output in the closing stanza for Alabama, totaling 17 points off 5-for-12 shooting and a perfect 6-for-6 from the line
- Alabama was outscored by nine 54-45 in the second half, shooting 14-for-32 (44 percent) from the field and 4-for-16 (25 percent) from threeÂ
Up NextÂ
- Alabama continues its brief home stint against the UTSA Roadrunners on Sunday afternoon
- Tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m. CT inside Coleman Coliseum and can be seen on SEC Network
