SEC Media Day with The Crimson Tide Men’s Basketball Team

SEC media day is scheduled for October 14th, with the college basketball season just around the corner. The Alabama Crimson Tide will be represented by their seventh-year coach, Nate Oats, the sophomore guard Labaron Philon Jr., and graduate guards Houston Mallette and Latrell Wrightsell Jr.

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Nate Oats, as the coach of Alabama, has an impressive record, being 145-63 (69.7 win%). He has racked up some awards with the Tide being awarded the SEC Coach of the Year in 2020-21, and a two-time Naismith Coach of the Year watch list in back-to-back seasons for 2022-23 and 2023-24. He has also coached up two Consensus All-Americans in Milwaukee Bucks rookie guard Mark Sears and the Charlotte Hornets electric forward Brandon Miller.

Labaron Philon Jr. is coming into his second year at Alabama after an excellent freshman year. Labaron averaged 10.6 points per game, 3.8 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.4 steals. He was efficient for a freshman, shooting 45.2% from the field and 31.5% from three. He was also an SEC All-Freshman Team honoree and was named freshman of the week three times.

Houston Mallette is a fifth-year player, but is going into his second year at Alabama after transferring from Pepperdine. Last season for the Tide, Mallette only played six games before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Before the injury, he was playing sample-sized minutes and averaged 3.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 0.2 assists. He was very efficient in that small period, shooting 58.2% from the field and 50% from three. If he can come back and play as good as he did with Pepperdine, where he had 1,295 points in three years (13.76 points per game), there will be nothing to worry about.

Latrell Wrightsell Jr. is heading into his sixth year, but his third year with the Tide after a three-year stint with Cal State Fullerton. In the first eight games of the season, Latrell was averaging 11.5 points, 2.0 assists, and 1.8 rebounds. He was extremely efficient, especially if you look at his minutes a game, being over 25 minutes, where he shot 50% from the field and 42.2% from three. Unfortunately, in that 8th game against Oregon, he ruptured his Achilles, causing him to miss the rest of the season.

When Coach Oats was asked about the injury on Monday, he said, "He's been unbelievably great in the whole rehab process," Oats said. "I think he's coming along. He's probably where he needs to be. We didn't practice him today. We kind of had him on a little bit of a load management deal, bringing him back so he don’t injure himself somewhere else.” It is unknown when he will be back, but Oats said, "We anticipate him being fully ready to go by the first game.”