Alabama Basketball Returners Embody Leadership in Steamrolling Maryland

Nate Oats explains how Labaron Philon, Aden Holloway, Aiden Sherrell and Houston Mallette helped Alabama tie two records under the head coach in as many days.

Alabama Forward Aiden Sherrell vs. Maryland | Obtained from Alabama Men's Basketball's X/Twitter

No. 8 Alabama men's basketball seems to make history when everyone is asleep.

UA tied its most points in a game under head coach Nate Oats following a 115-76 blowout win over UNLV on Tuesday, and Alabama tied its most assists under Oats (29) after obliterating Maryland 105-72 on Wednesday.

Both of these games were a part of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, and they tipped off at 11 p.m. CT on their respective days. These dominant wins came after Tuesday's loss to No. 12 Gonzaga, so what do these scoring and assists records say about the Crimson Tide?

"Ball's moving," Oats said after the Maryland win. "When the ball moves, we can score it at a high level. I've been saying this might be the best shooting team we've ever had. We hadn't been shooting it like that, but I think it was more because the ball was moving. Now that the ball's moving and guys are getting open shots, I think you see the capabilities this team has to shoot it.

"So I think this is the third time in the last two years we've scored back-to-back 100-point games. To me, we should be trying to score that much like every night. If the ball moves at the pace that it can move, and we get the pace of the game going up and down like we've been able to, that's well within our realm to be trying to get to 100 [points] and trying to get close to 30 assists.

Oats expressed that these recent showings are "something that's good to see, but hopefully we see a lot more of it." Alabama had similar performances to this one in the last season. The Crimson Tide has five returners from the 2024-25 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight Team and the four healthy players each made big contributions to the dominant win over Maryland.

Preseason All-SEC guard Labaron Philon's 20 points and six assists were just the tip of the iceberg. Fellow guard Aden Holloway dropped 17 points and a career-high 10 assists for his first-ever double-double, while forward Aiden Sherrell, the Hard Hat winner, registered 11 points, nine rebounds and five blocks. Additionally, graduate guard Houston Mallette recorded nine points, with five rebounds and two steals.

"Man, he was really good," Oats said of Holloway. "His pick-and-roll reads were great. His rim decisions when he got down there were good. Thought his pace was good. He's able to get by guys, get in the paint, spray the ball, but he really had it going today. ... So these two games, when his numbers have been up, his three-point percentage has been really up too, as he's 10 of 13 these last two games. So I think when the ball gets moving, it's contagious. Really starts with him and Labaron.

"Aiden Sherrell, I thought, did a great job on [Maryland's Pharrel] Payne, who's a really good big. I think Payne will be one of the better bigs in the Big Ten this year, as he was a problem in the SEC last year. [Sherrell] had seven blocks all last season. He had five tonight. He's already got 13 on the year. So I think he's significantly improved his defense. He's one rebound shy of a double-double."

Alabama’s Jacob Martin scored his first first point ever and the whole squad was HYPED 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Xgsz2JyX0Z

— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) November 27, 2025

As previously stated, Alabama fell to Gonzaga just a couple of days ago for its second loss of the season. Being able to follow that with two wins in as many days by an average margin of 36 points is a tremendous accomplishment. So, what has Oats seen from the four returners as leaders

"A lot," Oats said. "I mean, we had to change some stuff. Ball started to move. Rebound better. More intensity on defense. We put together a tough schedule. We put it together to get better, and we didn't plan on taking losses, but as long as we win from the losses, we're okay with it.

"And I thought these guys got better. We're a better team for playing those four games in a row. Now we come back and we've still got some tough games looking at us. We've got Clemson next week. We've got Arizona here before Christmas, you know, we've got some tough games left on the schedule."

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