Labaron Philon Surpasses Brandon Miller in Major Stat During Win Over Arkansas

The Alabama guard scored a career-high 35 points, but his accolade to leap over the Crimson Tide legend came midway through the second half.

Alabama guard Labaron Philon Jr sinks a lay up in the first half of the game against Arkansas on Feb. 18, 2026. | Sarah Munzenmaier/Alabama Crimson Tide on SI

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No. 25 Alabama basketball needed a superhero on Wednesday night to lead a comeback against No. 20 Arkansas, and guard Labaron Philon Jr. answered the bell.

The Crimson Tide won the home SEC matchup 117-115 in a double overtime game for the ages. The Razorbacks once held a 14-point lead early in the second half, but Philon, who has played the hero role in clutch time numerous times this season stepped up.

Philon finished the game with a career-high 35 points, including 24 in the second half plus the two overtimes. Around the midway point of the latter period, Philon surpassed Crimson Tide great Brandon Miller's single-season mark in games scoring 20-plus points. Miller had 20-plus points in 14 of his 37 games played during the 2022-23 season, while Philon has now reached that mark in 15 of his 25 contests this season.

For reference, Mark Sears holds the Alabama record in this stat category with 26 games of 20+ points during the 2023-24 season.

"Just keeping my head on the team, not really worried about accolades or nothing like that," Philon said after the game. "Keeping it Alabama basketball is the most important thing on my mind and my mentality going into games. I think coach Oats did a great job of helping me prepare for this game. Not trying to impress, outplay or outscore the other guards on their team.

"Just will your team to a win. I think those last 15 minutes I really did that. I got my team together and just led us to a win. I tried to get guys open, building confidence and make the right play at the end of the game."

Miller, the No. 2 pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, is the highest-drafted Crimson Tide player since the 1995 draft, when forward Antonio McDyess was drafted second overall by the Los Angeles Clippers.

A 5-star recruit headlining a star-studded recruiting class out of high school, Miller was the leader on an all-time Alabama team that won the SEC regular season championship, SEC Tournament championship and made the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament.

The Antioch, Tennessee native averaged 18.8 points per game, leading the SEC, and added 8.2 rebounds while shooting 38 percent from beyond the arc. Miller's incredible numbers earned him a plethora of awards and recognitions by season's end, including First Team All-SEC, SEC Freshman of the Year, SEC Player of the Year and Second Team All-American status.

What Philon said about his role leading up to the game is in line with Oats' comments during Tuesday's press conference, as outscoring Arkansas guard Darius Acuff Jr. wasn't necessarily the key to winning.

Mississippi State guard Josh Hubbard came into Wednesday leading the SEC in points per game, but Philon and Acuff were second and third, respectively. Acuff played the entire game and scored 49 points, but Philon losing the scoring battle meant nothing to Oats.

"We needed to think about what it took to win the game," Oats said during the postgame press conference. "His defense on Acuff, his playmaking ability, Baron ends up with seven assists. Acuff played well, obviously 49 but, he had five assists, Baron had seven. Obviously we got to the end they were both scoring a lot and we didn't do a very good job on him at all for most of the game.

"When he plays these other really good guards, we need to get the win. His version of outplaying them needs to be better defense, better leadership, better ball movement, bettert floor leadership, all that. And I thought he was pretty good at a lot of that tonight."

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