Nate Oats after win over Hofstra: ‘Labaron told me he wasn’t going home’
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Nate Oats knows his Alabama team is playing short-handed at this NCAA Tournament, minus the suspended Aden Holloway.
But he also knows he has a pretty good player in sophomore guard Labaron Philon Jr., who leads the Crimson Tide in scoring and who led Bama out of the cobwebs of an early deficit in Friday’s first-round game against stubborn Hofstra.
All Philon did is pour in 29 points, helping the 4th-seeded Tide (24-9) climb out of that scary double-digit deficit against the 13th-seeded Pride in an eventual comfortable 90-70 victory and a date with 5th-seeded Texas Tech in the second round on Sunday.
Alabama was in rough shape early on Friday in the Midwest Region showdown in Tampa, but after Philon did his talking with his play in helping rescue the Crimson Tide from a stunning upset, Oats talked a little about Philon, who also had 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals in 36 high-energy minutes.
“Labaron told me he wasn’t going home,” Oats told reporters in the postgame press conference. “He was pushing a triple-double — 29, 8 and 7, that’s a pretty solid night.”
With Alabama marching on to a second-round showdown on Sunday against Texas Tech, here is what the Kalshi market sees for the Crimson Tide’s chances to prevail and head to the Sweet 16:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
