Alabama
23-9,13-5SEC
Ole Miss
15-19,4-14SEC
No. 15/15 Alabama Upset by Ole Miss in SEC Tournament Quarterfinals
3/13/2026 10:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Rebels won for the third time in as many days to reach the semifinals on Saturday
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 15/15 Alabama men's basketball dropped its opening game in the 2026 Southeastern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament when it fell to Ole Miss, 80-79, in the quarterfinals on Friday night.Â
The Crimson Tide (23-9) was led by Labaron Philon Jr.'s game-high 28 points to go with a team-leading four assists. Aden Holloway (18) and Aiden Sherrell (14) also reached double figures, while Amari Allen pulled down a game-high 11 boards.
Ole Miss (15-19), who entered the week as a No. 15 seed having dropped 12 of its previous 13 contests, won for the third time in as many days and have not trailed throughout this year's tournament. The Rebels were led by AJ Storr's 17 points while Ilias Kamardine added 16 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame CommentsÂ
"Ole Miss gets a lot of credit for their three-game run. Coach Beard is a really good coach. They had a tough regular season, but they've come together and they're playing well right now.
We told our guys this was a much different team than the one we saw in Oxford. They're playing harder, they're more connected, and they're more together. To me, it looked like our players didn't think they were that much better than the first time we played them, despite the fact that they had just won two games.
I'm a little disappointed in ourselves for not being able to convince our guys how good this team was going to be. They came out ready to play and kind of beat us in the effort areas in the first half. We were out-rebounded by a large margin early, and they're a team that's on a run and playing with confidence. If we don't play hard enough on defense and in the effort areas, then you're asking for a game where you could end up losing.
I thought we played pretty hard over the last couple minutes. We were down 63–50, went on a big run, and kept fighting back. But we gave them a lot of confidence early, and they held on for the win. We have to give them a lot of credit.
We've played well enough during the year to guarantee a tournament seed, but we have to play significantly better if we don't want to be one-and-done."
Team StatsÂ
- The Rebels led for a total of 39:08 of the game, and have not trailed for a second through three games played in the 2026 SEC Tournament
- With this team-leading three blocks on the night, Aiden Sherrell moved into ninth on the single-season blocked shots list (72)
- Ole Miss owned a 42-36 advantage on the boards as Alabama falls to 8-8 on the season when getting outrebounded by its opponent
- Alabama shot 41 percent (26-of-64) from the field, 31 percent (9-of-29) from beyond the arc and 72 percent (18-of-29) from the charity stripe
- In comparison, Ole Miss shot 46 percent (31-of-67) from the floor, 42 percent (8-of-19) from deep and 67 percent (10-of-15) from the free throw line
First Half Â
- Ole Miss hit its first two three-pointers to take a 6-0 lead, before Alabama responded by scoring six of the next eight points in the game to trail by two early on
- After the UA tied the game at 16-apiece with 13:14 left, the Rebels went on a 9-0 run over the span of 2:34 (13:14-11:40) to take a 25-16 leadÂ
- Ole Miss stretched its lead to as many as 14 points (41-27) at the 5:05 mark
- The Crimson Tide would go on an 11-2 run over the next 3:05 (5:05-2:00) to trim the deficit to six, 43-37
- The lead would remain six points as the teams entered the locker room, with the Rebels leading 47-41
- Labaron Philon Jr. (12) and Aden Holloway (12) led the Tide by scoring 24 of the team's 41 pointsÂ
- Aiden Sherrell added seven points and a team-best four rebounds
Second Half Â
- Alabama was able to trim the lead to six points, 54-48, at the 17:10 mark of the second half, Ole Miss went on a 9-2 spurt to move its lead back to 13 points, 63-50 with 11:02 remaining
- The Tide slowly whittled the lead back down by using a 16-6 run over the next 6:38 to cut it down to three points, 69-66, with 6:41 left to play
- However, UA was never able to draw even and the Rebels responded by building its lead back to seven, 78-71, at the under four-minute timeout
- The Crimson Tide outscore Ole Miss 8-2 the rest of the way, but fell just shortÂ
- Philon scored 16 points and was the only UA player to reach double digits in the second stanza
- Amari Allen pulled down all 11 of his rebounds over the final 20 minutes of play
Up Next
- The Crimson Tide will await its NCAA Tournament fate on Selection Sunday, which will air at 5 p.m. CT/6 p.m. ET on CBS and ESPN
