A banged-up Alabama basketball team had little trouble dispatching North Dakota in the season opener on Monday night, running away with a 91-62 victory.
Alabama's depth was immediately tested in the opener. Along with the preseason toe injury for Miami (FL) transfer Jalil Bethea, Nate Oats held out Aden Holloway (wrist), Latrell Wrightsell (finger), and Keitenn Bristow (ankle) with minor injuries.
Oats hopes all three will be available on Saturday when the Crimson Tide travels to Madison Square Garden to battle St. John's. In the season opener against North Dakota, Alabama had more than enough without them.
Labaron Philon led the way, finishing with a career high 22 points and 8 assists. He wasted little time getting going, putting up 15 points and 7 assists in the first half as Alabama raced out to a 16-point lead at halftime.
Alabama blitzed North Dakota to open the second half, opening on a 14-4 run and never really looked back.
Labaron Philon's brilliance and more observations from Alabama's win over North Dakota
1. Labaron Philon will be in the National Player of the Year conversation
It's far too early to be talking about National Player of the Year, obviously, but Philon is that good. Buy stock now in him being a lottery pick in next year's NBA Draft.
Philon's terrific touch around the rim was on full display, but he also knocked down 2-of-4 attempts from three, showing off the improved three-point shot that was obvious during the exhibition schedule.
2. Houston Mallette is going to win a lot of hard hats
Houston Mallette has waited for this moment. After a lost season a year ago, thanks to knee injuries after transferring from Pepperdine, Mallette figures to play a key role on this year's Crimson Tide team. He started the season opener and will likely continue to start even when Alabama is at full strength.
Mallette's hustle and leadership were on full display. He led Alabama with four offensive rebounds, finishing the game with 13 points and 8 rebounds. He also added three assists. His energy and effort were infectious for the rest of the team.
He may end up leading the team in blue-collar points this year.
3. Amari Allen was impressive in his debut
Amari Allen might not start once Holloway and Wrightsell are healthy, but he's going to play a lot of minutes. He played 100 miles per hour from the opening tip on Monday night. He stuffed the stat sheet in his Crimson Tide debut.
He finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and a blocked shot. His activity was the most impressive part of his debut.
It wasn't just Allen; two other Alabama freshmen - Davion Hannah and London Jemison - were also impressive in their Crimson Tide debuts.
Hannah finished with 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals. He also threw down a thunderous dunk late in the second half:
OH MY DAVION HANNAH!#RollTide | #BlueCollarBasketball pic.twitter.com/l2um1zDH9g
— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) November 4, 2025
Jemison scored 12 points and grabbed 4 rebounds. The most impressive thing about the Tide's freshmen was how much confidence they played with. That's perhaps Oats' greatest strength as a head coach. He pumps the team full of confidence, and you wouldn't have guessed as an outsider that any of them were making their Tide debuts.
4. Aiden Sherrell's rim protection could be key moving forward
Arguably, the biggest area of concern for Alabama entering this season is the ability to protect the rim. The two fives who are expected to play major minutes - Aiden Sherrell and Noah Williamson - are more finesse-type big guys, rather than the hyper athletic Cliff Omoruyi and Grant Nelson.
Alabama's massive advantage in the paint is an obvious caveat, but Sherrell was terrific protecting the rim on Monday night. He finished with a team-high four blocked shots, a new career-high for the sophomore big man. He did that in only 20 minutes.
It won't look like that every night, but if Alabama can get that kind of rim protection from Sherrell going forward, it changes the calculus for this team.