Live Updates from No. 16 Alabama Basketball at Georgia

ATHENS, Ga.–– Alabama basketball is rolling into the March. The No. 16 Crimson Tide has won eight straight games heading into Tuesday night's game at Georgia.

The Crimson Tide has already secured a top-four seed in the SEC tournament, but Nate Oats wants his team to earn the 2-seed, which it can do with a win in Athens. Alabama is also fighting for the highest seed possible in the NCAA tournament.

Alabama and Georgia are scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. CT tipoff inside Stegman Coliseum, and the game will be on ESPN News. BamaCentral is live on site and will be providing updates throughout.

BE SURE TO REFRESH YOUR BROWSER FOR THE LATEST UPDATES

Live Updates

(latest updates at the top)

Second Half

15:19- Georgia has its largest lead of the night at 64-52

15:40- Georgia 63, Alabama 51- Not an ideal start to the half for the Tide. Georgia already has three more offensive rebounds and six more second-chance points in the second half alone.

17:01- Amari Allen picks up his third foul.

17:09- Back to back 3s from Alabama cut it to 57-51. Alabama now has nine made 3-pointers in the game.

18:50- Georgia scores the first five points of the second half and is up 55-43

HALFTIME: Georgia 50, Alabama 43

Georgia's Kanon Catchings leads all scorers with 20 points at the half. He came into the matchup averaging 10.6 points per game.
Labaron Philon Jr. leads Alabama with 14 points.
Aiden Sherrell and Amari Allen both have two fouls for the Tide.
Biggest difference in the game right now is second-chance points. Georgia has 14. Alabama has zero. The Bulldogs also have 19 points off of nine Alabama turnovers.
Nate Oats will not be happy with that defensive effort in the first half.

First Half

Georgia sinks a 3-pointer at the buzzer to push the lead to 50-43 at the break.

0:23- Philon drives aggressively to the bucket to cut the deficit to 47-43. Philon is up to 14 points. Mike White calls timeout to set up Georgia's final possesion of the half.

1:00- A 3-pointer from Mallette for Alabama cuts the Georgia lead down to 45-41. This is the closest it has been in a while.

3:58- Georgia 38, Alabama 30- The Tide needs to do a better job of holding onto the ball and grabbing rebounds, and it should be fine. Alabama needs a strong finish to the half over these final four minutes.

4:10- Holloway is fouled on a 3-pointer by Georgia, and he makes all three free throws to cut it to 38-30

3-pointers are keeping Alabama afloat on a night when a lot is going wrong. Philon's latest cuts the Georgia lead to 32-26

6:05- Nate Oats picks up a techncial foul jawing with the officials after a missed basket for Georgia. Blue Cain converts both free throws, and the Georgia lead is at 32-23

6:38- A 3-pointer from Bethea ends Alabama's four-plus minute scoring drought and cuts the Georgia lead to 30-23

7:17- Georgia 30, Alabama 20- Jalil Bethea comes in for Alabama after the timeout to try and change things up. Alabama's offense is still too frenzied.

8:14- Georgia 28, Alabama 20- Nate Oats calls a rare first-half timeout after the Bulldogs have gone on a 10-0 run. Alabama has turned it over five times in the last five minutes of game time. Lots of lazy passes and balls going right through the Tide's hands tonight so far. Seems like a lack of focus.

Georgia has five offensive rebounds and 10 second-chance points. The Bulldogs lead 28-20

Alabama has only turned it over five times, but it feels like a lot more than that.

11:38- Alabama 17, Georgia 15- Nate Oats goes over and chats with the official at the beginning of the media timeout. Sherrell was trying to argue that he was pushed out of bounds. It will be Georgia's ball at its own basket out of the timeout.

13:13- Alabama is starting to heat up from beyond the arc. Sherrell makes Alabama's third 3, and the Tide leads 17-15

It's hard to tell in this dark arena, but based on the reaction whenever Alabama scores a basket, there's a decent smattering of Crimson Tide fans in Athens.

14:44- Latrell Wrightsell Jr. makes Alabama's first 3 of the game, and the Tide also takes its first lead at 11-10

15:25- Alabama 8, Georgia 8- TheTide responds to Georgia's 6-0 start with a 6-0 run of its own. Neither team has made a 3-pointer at the first media timeout.

18:12- Holloway makes a basket for Alabama to stop the bleeding and cut the Georgia lead to 6-2

Nate Oats immediately subs out Amari Allen after the bad pass. London Jemison enters for Allen.

18:27- Georgia is up 6-0 after a careless pass from Alabama leads to a breakaways basket for the Bulldogs. The crowd inside Stegman is loud.

Georgia wins the opening tip, and this game is underway.

Starting lineups:

Pregame

Aden Holloway and Jalil Bethea end warmups with a thundering alley oop from Holloway to Bethea. I'm getting really good vibes from Bethea tonight. We'll see if that translate over to the game.

Former Georgia head football coach Mark Richt is in attendance for Tuesday night's game.

About 30 minutes before tip, the student section inside Stegman Coliseum is pretty full, but the rest of the arena is pretty sparse. Still time for fans to fill in though.

Tonight's officials: Doug Shows, Steven Anderson, Rob Rorke

Alabama will be wearing its traditional all crimson road uniforms.

Alabama has won three straight games against Georgia. The last loss came in Athens on Jan. 25, 2022

How to Watch: Alabama at Georgia

Who: No. 16 Alabama (22-7, 12-4 SEC) at Georgia (20-9, 8-8 SEC)

What: Alabama's 17th game of SEC Play (ninth on the road)

When: Tuesday, March 3, 5:30 p.m. CT

Where: Stegeman Coliseum, Athens, Georgia

TV: ESPNEWS

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

SiriusXM: Channel 191 (Alabama), Channel 192 (Georgia)

Series: Alabama leads 101-53, with the first matchup occurring on Feb. 21, 1922. The Crimson Tide is 35-31 on the road against the Bulldogs.

Last Meeting: The Crimson Tide dominated Georgia 90-69 at home on Feb. 1, 2025. For one of the first times this season, Alabama displayed dominance and superiority on both sides of the floor from practically start to finish. Forward Grant Nelson had himself quite the game as he scored 16 points on 5-for-9 shooting, along with 10 rebounds and five blocks in 26 minutes of action. Fellow Alabama forward Aiden Sherrell tallied eight points with 12 minutes remaining in the first half against Georgia. He finished the game with a season-high 12 points, seven rebounds and a block.

Last time out, Alabama: The then-No. 17 Crimson Tide took down then-No. 22 Tennessee 71-69 at home on Feb. 28. The Crimson Tide overcame a mountainous 13-point deficit, thanks to an incredible second-half effort on both ends of the floor. Head coach Nate Oats crowned Aiden Sherrell "the MVP," but Latrell Wrightsell Jr. finished with a team-high 25 points. Additionally, Labaron Philon Jr., who had 13 of UA's final 18 points, hit the game-winning shot with under 23 seconds remaining. It was Alabama's first lead of the entire game, but it's all the Tide needed to get out of Knoxville with its eighth consecutive win.

Last time out, Georgia: The Bulldogs cruised past South Carolina 87-68 at home on Feb. 28. Jeremiah Wilkinson led Georgia with 18 points off the bench, while Justin Bailey had 10 points as a fellow non-starter. That said, starters Somtochukwu Cyril (12 points), Kareem Stagg (11) and Marcus Millender each finished in double figures. Blue Cain logged a team-high eight assists and Justin Abson recorded four blocks off the bench.

Alabama Stat Leaders

Points: Labaron Philon Jr. (21.4 on 50.8 FG%) *THIRD IN SEC*
Rebounds: Amari Allen (7.3, including 1.6 offensive) *SIXTH IN SEC*
Assists: Labaron Philon Jr. (4.9 with 2.6 turnovers) *FOURTH IN SEC*

Georgia Stat Leaders

Points: Jeremiah Wilkinson (17.7 on 42.6 FG%) *EIGHTH IN SEC*
Rebounds: Somtochukwu Cyril (5.5, including 2.5 offensive) *OUTSIDE TOP 25 IN SEC*
Assists: Marcus Millender (3.9 with 1.7 turnovers) *EIGHTH IN SEC*