HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – No. 2 Alabama basketball defeated Memphis, 96-88, on Monday night in a charity exhibition at the Von Braun Center. The Crimson Tide closed out the preseason with a perfect 2-0 record after having blitzed Wake Forest 10 days prior in Birmingham.
Clifford Omoruyi opened the scoring with a layup in the first minute of play. The first four were quiet for both teams from an offensive standpoint, but Alabama can catch fire quickly, and did, out of the first media timeout. Jarin Stevenson and Mark Sears knocked down back-to-back threes to give the Tide an 11-4 lead. The run was briefly interrupted by a Memphis layup, but Aden Holloway pushed the UA advantage to 16-6 with a transition and-1.
The Alabama lead in the first half ballooned to 13 points (26-13) after four straight points from Derrion Reid, but the Tigers slowly trimmed it to seven (30-23) after a 6-2 stretch before the under-4 break. But that quickly evaporated as Alabama went on a 16-9 run to close out the first half with a 49-29 lead. The scorching finish to the first 20 minutes was capped by a Sears three – the star guard’s third triple and the Crimson Tide’s sixth of the first half.
Memphis opened the second half by making its first six shots and cutting the Alabama lead to 14 points, but back-to-back threes from Labaron Philon and Houston Mallette put the Tide back on top by 20 before the under-16 timeout. The Tigers knocked down their first 3-pointer of the night with 13:17 left in the game – they had missed their first seven from deep. By that point, UA was 10-24 from beyond the arc, aptly illustrating the scoreboard disparity.
But the Tigers clawed their way back in the final 11 minutes. Memphis used a 9-1 run to slice Alabama’s edge in half, 71-61, with nine minutes to play. The Crimson Tide went 7:19 without a field goal but never saw its lead dwindle to single digits. A Stevenson three ended the drought and gave UA a 79-65 lead with 6:23 to play. The Tigers made things interesting late, getting as close as six points, 93-87, but Alabama held on to claim an 8-point victory.
It was a free-throw fest to end things, as the two teams combined for 96 attempts at the stripe, including 62 in the second half. The Tide went 30-48 at the line; the Tigers were 29-48.
Monday was a night that ended with Y, after all, and Sears led Alabama with 20 points. Sears was one of six Crimson Tide players to score in double figures, and Philon wasn’t far off from the preseason All-American, scoring 17 points. Omoruyi posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds despite seven fouls, as the teams chose to let players go on after five fouls. For Memphis, PJ Haggerty paced all scorers with 32 points. He attempted 18 free throws, and made 14 of them, and picked up eight fouls in a team-high 35 minutes.
“There’s a reason we play the exhibitions – so that we can get exposed a little bit on what we got to work on. We definitely got exposed tonight a little bit. I thought our turnovers were not where we need them to be, and we got to do a better job taking care of the ball. Our defensive rebounding, our transition defense, they exposed in a bad way. They got all over the offensive boards, they had 23 O boards. They kind of came from everywhere, too. And then our transition – I mean, shoot, 36 fastbreak points is not good.
“So we’ve got a lot of work to do before the regular season, but I thought it was good that we got some young guys. Labaron is a freshmen that got to play. Holloway’s in his first year with us, got to play a decent amount of minutes with some of those other guys being out. Derrion’s been out a lot in the summer, in the fall with some injuries, so he’s a little bit rusty, but we were able to get him 24 minutes. Cliff, we need to get Cliff kind of used to our pace and our system a little bit more. So I think we got a lot of new guys a lot of minutes. Kind of if you go through the roster, look, out of the five starters, only one was with us last year, and off the bench, Mo and Jarin were with us last year, that was it. I think we needed to get to new guys kind of used to how we play, but we gotta be a lot better in a lot of areas.
“So super thankful Memphis agreed to do this for us. I’m glad we got to come up here to Huntsville. I think the crowd was great. I wish we’d have played a little bit better for them in the second half, but they were great. I enjoyed the game and glad we were able to get a win, but definitely got a lot to work on here.”
– The Crimson Tide’s starting five consisted of Mark Sears, Aden Holloway, Labron Philon, Derrion Reid and Clifford Omoruyi. One returner, two transfers and two true freshmen.
– Alabama was once again without four scholarship players on Monday night. Grant Nelson, Aiden Sherrell, Latrell Wrightsell and Chris Youngblood were all in street clothes. Youngblood is expected to be out until December, but the other injuries are not serious.
Alabama will open the 2024-25 season on Monday, Nov. 4, against UNC Asheville. The Crimson Tide will welcome the Bulldogs to Coleman Coliseum at 8 p.m. It will air live on ESPNU.
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The Alabama Crimson Tide are headed back to the Rose Bowl for the College Football Playoff.
One hundred years after Alabama football’s first appearance in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1926, the Tide will face No. 1 Indiana (13-0) in the CFP quarterfinals in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.
Alabama (11-3) rallied from a 17-0 first-half deficit to win its first-round playoff game, 34-24, against the Oklahoma Sooners (10-3) Friday night at Memorial Stadium in Norman.
Ty Simpson threw two touchdown passes to freshman receiver Lotzeir Brooks, cornerback Zabien Brown had a 50-yard interception return for touchdown, and Daniel Hill capped the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run as the Tide closed the game by out-scoring Oklahoma 34-7 over the final 36:52.
Conor Talty added two clutch field goals in Alabama’s win, its 10th victory overall in the College Football Playoff since 2014, and its first since the Crimson Tide defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats, 27-6, in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve 2021.
After Alabama’s rally, Tide players did some celebrating on the Sooners’ field.
Follow us at @RollTideWire on X and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Alabama Crimson Tide news, notes and opinions.
NORMAN, Oklahoma — The stage was set for Oklahoma. Heck, the Sooners earned the right to set it. This was supposed to be the ushering in of a new era of postseason football for the No. 8 team in the country that had won 10 games in what was one of the toughest schedules this year.
No. 9 Alabama was even one of those teams that Oklahoma beat on its way to earning this spot. And Saturday night, all was going well for the Sooners. It was going so well, in fact, that after the first quarter, some Oklahoma fans might’ve peeked at flights and hotel rates for the Rose Bowl from inside Memorial Stadium.
And then the Alabama Crimson Tide curled and rolled the Sooners, 34-24, and are headed to Pasadena. After opening with 17 unanswered points, Oklahoma collapsed under the weight of that wave, becoming the only team in College Football Playoff history to blow a 17-point lead. And now, the Sooners have done it twice — before Saturday, in 2018 against Georgia.
[Best Teams in the College Football Playoff Era: Creating the Ultimate 12-team CFP]
Here are my takeaways from Alabama’s College Football Playoff first-round victory against Oklahoma on Saturday:
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Zabien Brown #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide stiff-arms John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners during the second quarter during the 2025 College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson is an avid reader and listener of college football news. Following the largest comeback win in Alabama postseason history, Simpson took a moment to facetiously thank media members for choosing Oklahoma to win on Saturday night.
“I guess we can thank you guys for that,” an emboldened Simpson said. “You guys kind of wrote us off in a sort of way. So I appreciate that.”
After building a three-score lead, the Sooners watched the Crimson Tide recover a fumbled punt, pick off Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer and return it 50 yards to the end zone — all before their First Team All-American kicker Tate Sandell missed not one but two field goals in the final minutes to solidify the worst collapse in College Football Playoff history.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Crimson Tide will prepare to take on No. 1 Indiana in the Rose Bowl for the CFP quarterfinal game. This team that punches back and played its best football with its back against the wall is one that the Hoosiers must prepare for on New Year’s Day.
[College Football Playoff Predictions: First-Round Winners to The National Champion]
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners is hit by Deontae Lawson #0 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter during the College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
The Crimson Tide began down — just like they did against Georgia in the SEC championship game. But the last three quarters of Saturday’s game demonstrated Alabama to be just who it says it is: the kind of team that can open with a loss to a bad Florida State and also be the first team in six years to walk into Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, and come out with a win.
DeBoer’s task now is to find a way to make certain that the team that showed up at Georgia earlier this season and at Oklahoma in the first round is the same one against the Hoosiers. Linebacker Deontae Lawson said that’s his job too. But Bama’s best trait isn’t one that shows itself until it’s in a fight for its life.
“Man, I just think we’re a resilient team,” Lawson said. “And even though we were down 17-0, we didn’t really look at the scoreboard. Coach DeBoer always says, ‘Keep playing the game. The game will come back to you.’ … We just keep fighting.”
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Head coach Brent Venables of the Oklahoma Sooners speaks to an official during the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Let’s look at the bigger ones:
These are blunders. Errors that aren’t forced but self-inflicted. It’s difficult to win any game with those kinds of mistakes on your drive chart. It’s nearly impossible in a game of this magnitude, against a team as talented and as resilient as the Crimson Tide.
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Keon Keeley #31 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners in the College Football Playoff first-round game. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Oklahoma usually plays 50 Cent’s “Many Men” before the start of the fourth quarter. In an attempt to make a statement for its first CFP game at Owen Field, the Sooners brought the rapper himself out onto the field to perform the song for fans in a Hard to Kill Hoodie.
“I didn’t know it was live,” DeBoer said.
“I didn’t know who 50 Cent was,” Simpson said, “but I know that song.”
“We play that song at practice on Fridays,” Lawson said.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.
Hello college football fans, and welcome to The Athletic’s live coverage of the 2025 College Football Playoff!
Yes, after a 2025 season full of an incredible amount of twists, turns, controversy and pure chaos, the second edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff gets underway tonight. Our opening matchup is a battle of blue-bloods whose first meeting this season contributed to that chaos, as No. 9 Alabama takes on No. 8 Oklahoma in Norman.
Follow along for live pregame build-up and the latest news, play-by-play updates and real-time analysis from The Athletic’s college football staff!
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