Alabama star guard Labaron Philon's status for tomorrow afternoon's Iron Bowl of Basketball against Auburn appears to be in doubt.
After suffering a thigh bruise during Wednesday night's win over Texas A&M that clearly had him hampered throughout the second half, Philon was unable to practice on Friday, according to Nate Oats.
Nate Oats said Taylor Bol Bowen practiced today. "I thought he was moving pretty well."
— Charlie Potter (@Charlie_Potter) February 6, 2026
Oats said Labaron Philon wasn't able to practice today due to a thigh bruise he suffered vs. A&M.
Labaron Philon held out of practice 24 hours before Auburn game
When Alabama releases its initial availability report on Friday night for tomorrow's matchup at Auburn, expect Philon to be officially listed as questionable.
The star sophomore guard has already missed one game this season with an injury, and he missed the entire second half of Alabama's loss to Vanderbilt last month with another.
Philon sat out Alabama's final non-conference game against Yale after suffering a leg injury in a win over Kennesaw State. He suffered full-body cramps against Vanderbilt and sat out the final 16 minutes in a close loss.
Philon has had an outstanding sophomore season in Tuscaloosa to this point. The Mobile native is the SEC's leading scorer at 21.4 points per game. He also ranks fourth in the league in assists per game at 4.9. Both those marks lead the way for the Crimson Tide.
Even suffering through the injury, Philon came up with numerous clutch buckets to help Alabama escape with a 100-97 win over Texas A&M on Wednesday night.
With one of the biggest rivalry games in college basketball on deck, and Alabama looking to avoid falling back to .500 in SEC play, expect Philon to do everything he can to give it a go on the Plains.
Alabama has suffered through bad injury luck all season long. After Noah Williamson missed Alabama's win over A&M, only Houston Mallette has played in all 22 of the Crimson Tide's games.
On the positive end, Taylor Bol Bowen's return to practice would seem to point toward the Florida State transfer making his return to the lineup for Alabama after sitting out on Wednesday and only playing two minutes against Florida.