Live Blog for No. 15 Alabama Basketball Against No. 5 St. John's

No. 15 Alabama men's basketball is set to face No. 5 St. John's at 11 a.m. CT in Madison Square Garden.

The Crimson Tide has been preparing for a St. John's team led by head coach Rick Pitino, who has been a college basketball powerhouse for decades. In fact, Alabama head coach Nate Oats was born in the same year that Pitino got his first college coaching gig as an assistant for Hawaii.

The Naismith Basketball Hall-of-Famer recently called Alabama "the most unique team" in the nation. This is due to a variety of factors, including the fact that the Crimson Tide led the country in pace and points per game last season. Pitino said that playing Alabama will be like a track meet, so Oats described on Friday what it will be like playing St. John's.

"A football match," Oats said. "They're tough and physical. MMA, wrestling, football. We're still playing basketball, they're going to call some fouls, but you can't call every foul. There's going to be plenty of fouls that they get away with. We're going to have to match their physicality."

Tipoff between these two ranked programs is set for 11 a.m. on Fox Sports 1.

FOLLOW ALONG FOR LIVE UPDATES AND ANALYSIS BEFORE AND DURING THE GAME. REFRESH YOUR BROWSER AS THE MOST RECENT EVENTS WILL APPEAR AT THE TOP.

FINAL: Alabama 103, St. John's 96

FINAL: Alabama 103, St. John's 96 pic.twitter.com/NVr5vqSkQr
— Hunter De Siver (@HunterDeSiver) November 8, 2025

Second Half

95-88 Alabama: Alabama guard Labaron Philon is now the Crimson Tide's leading scorer with 22 points. He's coming up big late. UPDATE: Labaron Philon hits a big three for a new career-high of 25 points!

Alabama guard Aden Holloway has fouled out with 3:22 left in regulation. He exits with a team-high 21 points.

TIMEOUT (4:11 2H): Alabama 91, St. John's 87: Taylor Bol Bowen finishes an alley-oop before Rick Pitino calls timeout. He's up to 17 points and is coming up big.

Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway both have four fouls with 6:38 remaining. Aiden Sherrell also has four fouls. Holloway stays in the game and is up to 21 points.

TIMEOUT (7:25 2H): Alabama 82, St. John's 81: We're in for a tight finish in Madison Square Garden. Taylor Bol Bowen ended an 8-0 run by St. John's and Alabama really has to lock in these next few minutes with a 1-point lead.

MAJOR UPDATE: Latrell Wrightsell Jr. checked back into the game with roughly nine minutes to go in regulation.

TIMEOUT (11:59 2H): Alabama 74, St. John's 66: Alabama maintains the lead but St. John's' offense is starting to really click as the Red Storm has made 6 of its last 8 field goal attempts. Meanwhile, Alabama is 1 of its last 7.

Davion Hannah has checked back into the game with less than 13 minutes to go in regulation. With 12 minutes left in the first half Hannah got blocked on a dunk attempt and went down hard around his tailbone. Nate Oats went right up to him after play stopped and he limped off the court with Alabama trainer Clarke Holter.

Alabama leads 69-58 and is on a 9-0 run, but Wrightsell limped off the court. It's his first regular-season game since rupturing his Achilles last November.

TIMEOUT (16:29 2H): Alabama 62, St. John's 58: Not the best start for Alabama on either side of the ball as St. John's is outscoring the Crimson Tide 14-9. Labaron Philon Jr. ended a run by the Red Storm and he's up to 12 points today.

HALFTIME: Alabama 53, St. John's 44

Alabama Basketball vs. St. John's Halftime Stats | Obtained from StatBroadcast

First Half

Bol Bowen has 7 points, 7 rebounds (4 offensive), an assist, a steal and a block in 11 minutes of action at the end of the first half. Here's what Oats said about his response in practice this week after struggling to get rebounds against North Dakota:

Alabama HC Nate Oats said multiple times in his North Dakota postgame presser that he was frustrated with Taylor Bol Bowen having 0 O-boards.

Ahead of St. John's, I asked Oats how Bol Bowen has responded to the criticism. They haven't practiced as hard due to injuries, but... https://t.co/wILSxRHE0H pic.twitter.com/zGNdUXm83N
— Hunter De Siver (@HunterDeSiver) November 7, 2025

The 53 points scored by the Crimson Tide are the most ever that the Red Storm have allowed in a half under Rick Pitino.

Aden Holloway hit a three at the buzzer. It's Alabama's largest lead of the game and a great way to enter the locker room.

Oats on St. John's Friday:

"They're tough and physical. MMA, wrestling, football. We're still playing basketball, they're going to call some fouls, but you can't call every foul. There's going to be plenty of fouls that they get away with. We're going to have to match their physicality."

Halftime foul numbers:
Personal: Alabama 16, St. John's 6
FTs: Alabama 5-7, St. John's 19-23

Alabama leads 53-44 at the break.

TIMEOUT (3:21 1H): Alabama 39, St. John's 38: This has been a fun first half. Labaron Philon ended an 8-0 run by St. John's but there's a ton of speed on both ends here. Really like what we're seeing from Taylor Bol Bowen, who BamaCentral dubbed as the X-Factor for this game.

Bol Bowen seems to have responded well to Nate Oats' displeasure with his rebounding: 5 points, 6 rebounds with 5:47 to go in the first half.

St. John's already in the double bonus with a bit under seven minutes remaining in the first half. Alabama leads 33-29.

Nate Oats in the huddle on FS1: "We cannot back off the toughness...but we got to figure out a way to do it without fouling."

TIMEOUT (7:34 1H): Alabama 31, St. John's 27: Wrightsell. in his first 7 minutes of the regular season after rupturing his Achilles last November: 9 points (3-3 from deep), 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal. Welcome back. Worth mentioning that Holloway, who is also making his season debut, leads UA with 12 points.

16-16 (12:07): Freshman Davion Hannah got blocked on a dunk attempt and went down hard around his tailbone. Nate Oats went right up to him after play stopped and he limped off the court with Alabama trainer Clarke Holter.

Wrightsell hit a three during Alabama'a 8-0 run. This is his first regular season game since his Achilles rupture last season on Nov. 30, 2024. In four minutes, he logged 3 points (1-1), 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.

TIMEOUT (15:33 1H): Alabama 10, St. John's 9: Solid start for Alabama, but the 4 of the Crimson Tide's 6 misses are from deep. Nate Oats was disappointed on Monday night after Taylor Bol Bowen had 0 o-boards, however, he already has one offensive and one defensive.

Good stuff from guard Aden Holloway as he's up to five early points, including two nice finishes inside. Oats said during the offseason that Holloway has become more physical, and we're seeing it in his regular-season debut.

Houston Mallette earns Alabama's first points against St. John's with a three (Labaron Philon assist).

Pregame

Oats to CTSN: "We're going to show whether we're tough enough to play a team like St. John's. And I like where we're at. I think our guys will answer the bell. We've answered the bell around here in the past in games like this. I'm interested to see what some of the new guys do in a game like this."

Alabama Starters:
G Labaron Philon Jr.
G Aden Holloway (season debut)
G Houston Mallette
F Taylor Bol Bowen
F Aiden Sherrell

St. John's Starters:
G Joson Sanon
G Oziyah Sellers
F Dillon Mitchell
F Bryce Hopkins
F Zuby Ejiofor

Alabama guards Aden Holloway (wrist) and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (finger) will play St. John's, but forward Keitenn Bristow (ankle) is out, per CTSN. This will be Wrightsell’s first regular season game since his Achilles rupture last season on Nov. 30, 2024.

St. John's guard Dylan Darling will not play due to a right calf strain, per basketball insider Adam Zagoria. Darling came into the Red Storm's first game off the bench and recorded six points, four rebounds, a team-high six assists and three steals in 17 minutes on the floor.

How to Watch: No. 15 Alabama vs. No. 5 St. John's

Who: No. 15 Alabama (1-0, 0-0 SEC) vs. No. 5 St. John's (1-0, 0-0 Big East)

What: Alabama's second game of the regular season (first on the road/neutral site)

When: Saturday, Nov. 8, 11 a.m. CT

Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y.

TV: Fox Sports 1

Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (Play-By-Play: Curt Bloom, Color: Bryan Passink). The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.

SiriusXM: Channel 201 (St. John's), Channel 384 (Alabama)

Series: The two programs are tied 2-2 with the first matchup occurring on Dec. 17, 1955.

Last Meeting: This will be Alabama's first game against St. John's since Wimp Sanderson coached the Crimson Tide to a 69-68 NCAA Tournament win on Long Island on March 14, 1982. It's also the first time that Alabama's played in MSG — nicknamed "The World's Most Famous Arena" — since the NIT Tip-off in 2013.

Last time out, Alabama: The Crimson Tide dismantled North Dakota 91-62 in its season opener on Monday night. Preseason All-SEC sophomore guard Labaron Philon Jr. scored a career-high 22 points with eight assists, while graduate guard Houston Mallette tallied 15 points and grabbed four offensive rebounds. Freshman Amari Allen filled the stat sheet as he recorded 12 points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished five assists, swiped three steals and snatched a block.

Last time out, St. John's: The Red Storm cruised past Quinnipiac 108-74 at home on Monday in Carnesecca Arena in Queens, N.Y. Forward Dillon Mitchell led St. John's in points (18), rebounds (seven) and steals (four). Zuby Ejiofor (17 points), Ian Jackson (15), Joson Sanon (14) and Sadiku Ibine Ayo (10) scored double-digit points.

Alabama Stat Leaders

Points: Labaron Philon Jr. (22.0 of 69.2 FG%)
Rebounds: Houston Mallette (8.0, including 4.0 offensive)
Assists: Labaron Philon Jr. (8.0 with 4.0 turnovers)

Points: Dillon Mitchell (18.0 on 77.8 FG%)
Rebounds: Dillon Mitchell (7.0, including 3.0 offensive)
Assists: Dylan Darling (6.0 with 1.0 turnovers)