The Players in the Huddle Who Sparked Alabama's Dominant Win Over Mississippi State

Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats lists a group of players, including Labaron Philon and a walk-on, who displayed leadership while down big early in Starkville.

Jan 13, 2026; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide guard Labaron Philon Jr. (0) reacts during a timeout during the second half against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Humphrey Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Everything seemed like Alabama basketball would start SEC play with a 1-3 record.

After being the only school in the country to reach back-to-back NCAA Tournament Elite Eights, two consecutive losses to Vanderbilt and Texas, a third to Mississippi State may have started to raise some questions about the Crimson Tide.

Mississippi State led Alabama 29-15 during the first half of Tuesday night's matchup in Humphrey Coliseum. The raucous Bulldogs crowd seemed to have gotten to the Tide's heads, but after one media timeout, a switch flipped for UA, and it led to a 21-5 run to close the half. So, which players led the charge in the timeout to turn the Tide into eventually winning 97-82?

"A lot of guys have started to step up," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said during the postgame press conference. "Labaron [Philon] was talking more. [Aden] Holloway talked as much as he's ever talked. You know, our typical leaders, like Houston [Mallette], was great.

"But even guys like [walk-on] Preston Murphy Jr., we call him 'Deuce,' I thought he was in there talking, he's been good. He was talking in the team meetings. He knows what it takes to win. He plays hard. He's really good."

Oats also mentioned that forward Taylor Bol Bowen, who did not play due to a left hand injury, had a role in this and that "he's done a complete 180 in the last month." Bol Bowen was one of five players out for this one, as Alabama was limited to just eight scholarship players.

But Oats stressed that this setback was utilized as an advantage, and he even shared a bible verse as a reference for the team.

"I keep telling the guys, 'when we're facing adversity, it makes you better,'" Oats said. "I had kind of had a quote of the day — Proverbs 24:10 — if you faint in a day of adversity, your strength is small. We got a lot of adversity, and our strength is not small. Our guys got high character.

"These two guys (Philon and Sherrell), Holloway stepped up, London (Jemison), Amari (Allen) with 13 [points] and 13 [rebounds]. I mean, go down the list. I thought Noah (Williamson) came in and played huge for us at times. Big Aiden (Sherrell) has been playing really well. He had 22 tonight, guarding a bunch of bigs over there. So our guys answered the bell, and the adversity continued.

"When we got down 14 at the beginning of the game, and our guys didn't quit, they just stayed with it. Stay with it. Stay with it. Stay with it. We're going to learn how to handle adversity this year. That's what we're going to learn how to do and I thought we answered the bell pretty well, especially after we got down 14. Because in the next 20 minutes, I think we outscored them by 36. Pretty good run after going down 14."

Philon and Sherrell are two of the Crimson Tide's five returners from last year's team. They each tallied career highs in points on Tuesday night, as Philon dropped 32 and Sherrell put up 22.

Sherrell said after the game that the large deficit in the first half was "a wakeup call," and Philon was in agreement with his fellow sophomore, stating that "once we started emphasizing the defense, the shots just started to fall." However, Philon revealed that these conversations came well before the game.

"At the start of the week, we came in after a tough loss to Texas and just needed to talk to each other without the coaches being in the room. And just see, as teammates, think about the game and what went wrong. It just opened up a lot of things for us to play together on both ends of the floor. Once the team told me what they need from me, I just try to step it up as much I can, and try to play hard on both ends of the floor."

Alabama aims to return to its high status in the SEC, but it will take some time. For now, the Crimson Tide turns the page to another road game, this time against Oklahoma on Saturday.

Subscribe to BamaCentral's Free Newsletter