Sports

Angry Nate Oats Throws Star Alabama Basketball Player Under Bus After Mysterious Midgame Exit

#Alabama Crimson Tide
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Nate Oats addresses mysterious Labaron Philon absence.

iStockphoto / © David Leong-Imagn Images / © Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images


The Alabama basketball team fell to SEC rival Vanderbilt on Wednesday night in Nashville. Star player Labaron Philon was unavailable for much of the second half.

Head coach Nate Oats explained that unexpected absence in his postgame press conference. In doing so, he threw Philon under the bus.

The Crimson Tide travelled to Tennessee for a midweek showdown with the undefeated Commodores. Oats addressed the magnitude of the situation before tipoff.

Alabama will meet Vanderbilt just once in league play. While there is still a long way to go in the SEC race, the outcome will determine future conference tournament seeding, and potentially a regular season title.

The Commodores stayed perfect with a 96-90 win. They broke a midgame tie with a 53-point second half. Alabama was without its top contributor for the majority of those final 20 minutes.

Who is Labaron Philon?

Philon signed with Alabama as a four-star recruit out of the state of Missouri in the 2024 cycle. He did so after flipping his initial commitment(s).

The guard made his first pledge to rival Auburn in April of ’23. He then backed off to commit to Kansas before changing his mind one last time. The Crimson Tide are glad he did.

The sophomore standout is now the top scorer in the lineup at 21.3 points per game.

After a brief flirtation with the 2025 NBA Draft, he chose to return to Tuscaloosa. He appears on track to be a Top 10 pick in the 2026 selection process.

Philon’s recorded 20-point performances against the likes of St. John’s, Illinois, Clemson, Gonzaga, Maryland, and Arizona already this year.

In his most recent outing vs. Vanderbilt, however, he was unable to hit that mark. That was not due to production, but availability.

Alabama lost its top basketball player.

Labaron Philon played around 20 minutes in the loss to Vanderbilt. He scored 18 points. The guard mysteriously exited to the locker room early in the second half.

Nate Oats provided an update after the game. He did not seem pleased with his star player’s absence.

“He just had full-body cramps, I don’t know,” Oats said. “Played 19 minutes and had to go back and get an IV and couldn’t play. I don’t know why he’s having full-body cramps only playing 19 minutes, but that’s what he had going.”

The response was one of a frustrated head coach knowing his team could’ve left Nashville with a statement win. Not only were the Crimson Tide down their best player in crunch time, but Oats was critical of officiating, too.

Vanderbilt shot 50 free throws on the night, 12 more than Alabama. The stoppages slowed the game, impacting pace and momentum for the road team.

The Tide couldn’t get into a rhythm as they watched Commodores make continuous trips to the charity stripe. At one point, Oats get fed up with how the game was being called.

Oats received a technical foul for arguing with the officiating crew, much to the delight of the home crowd.

The frustrations followed him into the postgame presser where he hung Labaron Philon out to dry. The coach will look to put this one behind him soon and get back in the win column on Saturday vs. Texas.