Alabama
16-7,6-4SEC
Auburn
14-9,5-5SEC
Strong Second Half Powers Alabama Past Auburn, 96-92
2/7/2026 6:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide won for the second straight year in Neville Arena, the first time that’s occurred since the 2011 and 2012 seasons
AUBURN, Ala. – The RV/RV Alabama men's basketball team used a strong second half shooting performance to erase a four-point halftime deficit and come-from-behind to defeat Auburn, 96-92, Saturday night inside Neville Arena. The Crimson Tide, which trailed by 10 points late in the first half, scored 59 second half points and took the lead for good with just over 10 minutes remaining in the contest to earn the road victory.
Labaron Philon Jr. led Alabama (16-7, 6-4 SEC) with his 14th 20-plus point game of the year as he netted 25 points, five rebounds, and six assists to go along with a career high two blocks. Amari Allen (17), Aden Holloway (15) and Charles Bediako (12) also poured in double-digit efforts for the Tide.Â
Auburn (14-9, 5-5 SEC) was guided by the tandem of Tahaad Pettiford (25) and Keyshawn Hall (24), who combined for 49 of the Tigers' 92 points.Â
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame CommentsÂ
"It is always nice to get a win (at Auburn), it's the first time since the 2011-12 seasons that we got back-to-back wins here. It was a tough and hard-fought win. I thought we closed the first half well. We were down 10 with two and a half minutes left and cut six points off the lead, that was huge. I told our guys at the half with how we were playing, we couldn't play much worse in the second half. We had nine turnovers and couldn't get anything going offensively. Defensively, we needed to get better after getting beat on the offensive glass.
"In the second half, we only had five turnovers and I thought our guards made some good shots. Holloway played some tough defense and Aiden Sherrell really bounced back with four blocks tonight. He was good down the stretch when we needed him. I thought Philon and Holloway played really well late in the game with Aden's four-point play and scoring 1,000 career points. It was nice for him to score his 1,000th point back here in a win.
"We did a good job making free throws late, Philon didn't miss one in the second half, Holloway went 4-of-5 and our bigs went 4-of-5 combined. We made free throws late and had key defensive stops late. A lot of grit, a lot of toughness and a lot of adversity was showed tonight."
Team StatsÂ
- Aden Holloway's 15 points against the Tigers moved him past 1,000 career points (1,004)
- Alabama shot 12-of-23 (52.2 percent) from beyond the three-point arc, making this the fourth straight game in which they have made 12-plus treys
- The Tide outscored its rival 59-51 in the second half to become the second team this season to overcome a halftime deficit against Auburn
- UA connected on 32-of-59 (54.2 percent) from the field which is the best shooting performance by the Crimson Tide since an early non-conference win over Maryland on Nov. 26 (57.6 percent)
- Charles Bediako's 12 points off the bench spearheaded 28 bench points by the Tide, its most in conference play this season, as UA outscored AU 28-7 in the categoryÂ
- The Crimson Tide had seven blocks on the defensive end led by Aiden Sherrell's four swats, his ninth game this season with three or more blocksÂ
- Alabama hit 20-of-23 (87 percent) free throws in the win, including knocking down 18-of-20 (90 percent) in the second halfÂ
First Half Â
- Auburn led Alabama early (11-7) with 14:55 left in the first half, due in large part to four early turnovers committed by the Tide, leading to six Tiger pointsÂ
- The Crimson Tide continued to turn the ball over and finished the half with nine turnovers which led directly to 15 Auburn points, as the AU outscored UA 15-0 in the categoryÂ
- With Auburn leading 23-20 at the 9:01 mark of the stanza, the Tigers went on a 13-6 run to take its largest lead at 36-26 with 2:33 remaining
- Alabama responded with an 11-2 run over the next 1:57 to trim the lead to one, 38-37
- The Tigers would make its final three to end the half down leading by four, 41-37
- Labaron Philon Jr. led the Tide in points (9), assists (4) and blocks (2)Â
- Alabama had nine assists on its 15 made field goals in the first half, compared to Auburn's four on 16 made shots
Second Half Â
- Alabama got the lead down to one, 45-44, with 17:38 left in the game, before Auburn would make its next three shots to stretch the lead to 52-47 with 15:43 left at the under-16-minute TVÂ timeout
- Thanks to a quick 11-0 run that lasted just over two minutes (15:31-13:11) , Alabama was able to take a 58-54 lead 13:41 mark - UA's first lead since 18:21 left in the first half.Â
- The Tide came out of the break hot, connecting on 11 of its first 15 shots (73.3 percent)
- Amari Allen's three-pointer with 10:39 left gave Alabama a 66-65 lead and the Tide would not trail the rest of the game
- After UA took its biggest lead of the game, 78-72, Auburn would go on a 7-1 run to cut the Alabama lead to one, 80-79, with 3:49 left in the game
- Aden Holloway, who only scored six points in his first 27 minutes on the court, cashed in on a huge and-one three followed by a contested layup to stretch the Tide's lead to six, 89-83 with 2:20 left
- Alabama went 18-of-20 from the charity stripe in the second half, including hitting 7-of-7 down the stretch to seal the winÂ
- Philon had 16 points in the half, while Allen scored 13 and Holloway added 11Â points
- UA's 59 second-half points are the most allowed by Auburn in that period all season
Up Next
- Alabama travels to Oxford, Miss., to face Ole Miss to close out its two-game road trip Â
- Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion and can be seen on the SEC NetworkÂ
