E124 BH Alabama gets comeback win at TN 71 69 to extend winning streak to 8 games

Alabama comes from behind win over TN 71 to 69 as Labaron Philon scores the game winner on midrange stepback to extend the winning streak to 8 games as Bama as Bama remains hot hot hot. Nate Oates and Alabama get the TN/Rick Barnes monkey off their backs as they snap the 5-game losing streak to TN and put themselves in second place the SEC with just two games left in the regular season. No. 18 Alabama (now 22-7 overall and 12-4 in SEC) snapped a five-game losing streak against Tennessee on February 28, 2026, with a gritty 71-69 victory at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville. Alabama caught a break near the end of the first half as 5-star freshman for TN Nate Aments hurt his knee and ankle in a scramble for the ball and sat out the rest of the first half and tried to play at the beginning of the 2nd half, but pulled himself out and didn’t play the rest of the game. Ament lead TN to a comeback victory over Alabama in Tuscaloosa a month ago and not having him at the end of the game hurt Tennessee’s ability to get buckets late in the game when they were trying to close out Alabama. Offensive Efficiency: After a stagnant first half with only 28 points, Alabama scored 43 in the second half. Alabama came out on a 12 to 2 run to open the 2nd half and cut the lead to 4 pts. Alabama then fell behind again by as much as 11 pts with 9 minutes to go in the game, but Bama kept fighting and clawed its way back to tie the game with 2.32 left on a Philon driving layup. A critical improvement for the Tide was ball security as Bama committed only two turnovers after halftime. 2:00 Remaining (UT 69, UA 67): Tennessee big man J.P. Estrella scored on the block to put the Volunteers up by two, ending a 6-0 Alabama run that had tied the game at 67 all. • 1:45 – 1:15 Remaining: A chaotic sequence saw Alabama's Labaron Philon miss a potential game-tying three, but Aiden Sherrell fought for two consecutive offensive rebounds, eventually forcing a Tennessee out-of-bounds call. • 1:01 Remaining (Tie 69–69): Aden Holloway hit a short baseline fadeaway to tie the game for the first time. • 0:50 Remaining: Coming out of a Tennessee timeout, Ja'Kobi Gillespie missed a clean look from three. During the rebound struggle, Alabama's Felix Okpara fell hard and was forced to the bench with 45 seconds left as the ball was off TN and was Alabama’s ball out of bounds. • 0:24 Remaining (UA 71, UT 69): Labaron Philon hit a contested midrange fadeaway in the paint over the tall 6-11 JP Estrella to give Alabama its first lead of the entire game. • Final Seconds: After a Tennessee timeout, Alabama coach Nate Oats instructed his team to give a foul to burn time. With the clock winding down, Gillespie attempted a game-tying layup but was denied; the ball rolled around on the fall and away from anyone being able to possess the ball after the miss as time expired sealing the comeback win for Bama. Stars of the GameLaBaron Philon hit the game winner on a midrange stepback in the paint with a tall TN defender Estrella on him with 24 seconds left to give Alabama its only lead of the game 71 to 69. Philon had 23 pts and only one TO scoring most of his points in the 2nd half. Latrell Wrightsell had a game high 25 pts to lead the Bama comeback charge in the second half of the game. Other notables: Aden Holloway had 12 pts, 4 rebs, 2 assists and 2 TO’s. Bama currently is slotted for a 4 seed in the NCAA’s, but is set up to get a 3 seed if Bama keeps winning. Alabama with two games to go is in 2nd place in the SEC and will finish no worse than 4th in the SEC now. Next up: Alabama plays at Georgia Tuesday night March 3 at 5:30 pm. Bama needs to beat Georgia in order to secure at least 3rd place in the SEC and to keep building their tournament resume if they want to get a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. Bama is hot hot hot right now with the 8-game winning streak, let’s get it to 9 on Tuesday.