Men's Basketball

The Crimson Tide’s Mens’ basketball team faces the Creighton Bluejays tomorrow. Alabama is working to repeat its success from last year when they made it all the way to the Final Four during March Madness. The Tide is coming off a win over North Carolina who Alabama faced during last year’s Sweet Sixteen.

Mark Sears scored 20 points, Aden Holloway and Labaron Philon each had 15 points and No. 10 Alabama beat No. 20 North Carolina 94-79 on Wednesday night in the ACC-SEC Challenge. Clifford Omoruyi and Derrion Reid each scored 11 points and Grant Nelson had 10 points to help the Crimson Tide (6-2) beat three straight Top 25 opponents for the first time in three seasons.

The No. 20 North Carolina Tar Heels face the No. 10 Alabama Crimson Tide. The teams meet Wednesday for the first time this season. North Carolina is 2-0 at home, and Alabama is 0-1 on the road.

The AP Top 25 national schedule features No. 2 Auburn's visit to No. 9 Duke and No. 10 Alabama's visit to No. 20 North Carolina in a doubleheader played on the same night and a short drive apart. Those games will offer tests for teams that have made cross-country trips in the past two weeks for tournaments or made-for-TV matchups.

Mark Sears scored 24 points and No. 9 Alabama beat No. 6 Houston 85-80 in overtime in the opener of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. After squandering an eight-point lead with 8:53 left in the game, and allowing Houston to force overtime, Alabama outscored the Cougars 7-2 in the extra frame for the win.

Alabama men's basketball guard Labaron Philon has been named SEC Freshman of the Week, announced the Southeastern Conference on Monday. Philon is a native to Mobile and is ranked as the No. 30 overall recruit by ESPN, No. 32 by 247Sports and No. 33 by On3 in the class of 2024.

The traditional Thanksgiving Week college basketball tournament lineup is getting a twist this year. Entering the fray is the Players Era Festival. The event in Las Vegas, which tips off Tuesday, includes the likes of sixth-ranked Houston, No. 9 Alabama and No. 15 Texas A&M.

Grant Nelson scored 23 points and Aden Holloway had 18 to lead No. 8 Alabama to a 100-87 win over No. 25 Illinois in a matchup of Elite Eight teams from last season. Nelson opened the game with three straight 3-pointers. Will Riley led Illinois with 18 points and nine rebounds.

The University of Mobile community is honoring one of its basketball players who collapsed and died on campus. A spokesperson for the private institution says 18-year-old Kaiden Francis was found unresponsive this week. This happened shortly after he finished a workout with the university’s coaching staff and trainers.

Kansas strengthened its grip on No. 1 in the AP Top 25. The rest of the top 10 turned into a jumble of teams swapping places. The Jayhawks picked up five first-place votes in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, receiving 49 from a 61-person media panel. No. 2 UConn, No. 3 Gonzaga and No. 4 Auburn all received votes. The shuffling started with No. 8 Alabama’s loss to No. 6 Purdue, a game that dropped the Crimson Tide six spots and bumped the Boilermakers up seven. Losses by Duke and Arizona shook up the top 10.