NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Labaron Philon scored 21 points and fifth-ranked Alabama never trailed in routing No. 15 Kentucky 99-70 on Friday night to advance to the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals.

The Crimson Tide (25-7), the No. 3 seed, will play fourth-ranked Florida on Saturday looking to play for their second tournament title in three seasons. The Gators beat No. 21 Missouri 95-81 earlier Friday night as the SEC’s top four seeds all advanced.

Jarin Stevenson added 16 points. Mark Sears, Mouhamed Dioubate and Aden Holloway each had 13 as Alabama beat the Wildcats again after sweeping them during the regular season.

Kentucky (22-11) managed just one tie at 14 and trailed 45-38 at halftime.

Andrew Carr led Kentucky with 18 points. Amari Williams had 16, and Travis Perry 11.

Takeaways

Kentucky: The Wildcats played without starting guard Lamont Butler who missed his ninth game of the season after hurting his right shoulder Thursday night. Coach Mark Pope said on pregame radio that they got the “best possible news” from tests earlier Friday. … The Wildcats go home with their last tournament title in 2018.

Alabama: The Crimson Tide are two wins from their third tournament title in five seasons under coach Nate Oats. They improved to 3-17 against Kentucky in this event and 2-6 in the quarterfinals. They also added to the program record for most wins over AP Top 25 opponents with the 11th this season.

Key moment

The Crimson Tide extinguished any thoughts of a comeback starting the second half on a 12-6 run to force a Kentucky timeout after Dioubate’s 3 with 16:31 left. Alabama led by 30 late.

Key stat

Alabama had a 29-6 scoring edge off turnovers.

Up next

Butler has time to heal for the NCAA Tournament for Kentucky. Alabama has a chance to avenge a 99-94 loss to the Gators on March 5 on the Tide’s home court.

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The United States Department of Education is investigating the University of Alabama here in Tuscaloosa over alleged racial discrimination, which could threaten the institution’s considerable federal funding.

The Department is being led by President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, a former professional wrestling promoter.

On Monday, McMahon announced that she would fire about half of the Department of Education’s staff as the first step of ultimately dismantling the entire Department, which employed more than 4,100 people in January.

One of the final missions of her Department of Education will apparently be to ensure that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are scoured from colleges and universities across America, and on Friday, the Department announced investigations into several dozen institutions, including the University of Alabama.

45 of the 52 investigations announced Friday are related to Universities that partner with The Ph.D. Project, which for 30 years has helped people earn doctorate degrees.

McMahon says dozens of universities and colleges have partnered with the organization but limited eligibility based on the race of participants.

The University of Alabama, though, is under investigation for something else – McMahon said her department is investigating six universities for allegedly awarding impermissible race-based scholarships and one university for allegedly administering a program that segregates students on the basis of race.

Those schools included:

• Grand Valley State University
• Ithaca College
• New England College of Optometry
• University of Alabama
• University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
• University of South Florida
• University of Oklahoma, Tulsa School of Community Medicine

She did not specify which of these categories Alabama fell into.

“The Department is working to reorient civil rights enforcement to ensure all students are protected from illegal discrimination. The agency has already launched Title VI investigations into institutions where widespread antisemitic harassment has been reported and Title IX investigations into entities which allegedly continue to allow sex discrimination; today’s announcement expands our efforts to ensure universities are not discriminating against their students based on race and race stereotypes,” said the former President of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. “Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin. We will not yield on this commitment.”

“These OCR investigations are being conducted pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1964), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in education programs and activities receiving federal funding,” the Department’s announcement concluded. “Institutions’ violation of Title VI can result in loss of federal funds.”

In their 2024 Annual Financial Report, UA reported more than $143 million in revenue from federal grants and contracts. That number dwarfs all other revenue streams except tuition and fees which, after scholarship allowances, generated more than $516 million for UA last year.

The University of Alabama is also by far the largest employer in Tuscaloosa County, with almost 6,900 workers.

The University of Alabama is on Spring Break this week, and their communications directors did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the investigation announced Friday.

For updates on this matter if any more details are made publicly available, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.

Alabama basketball’s first opponent of the 2025 SEC tournament is set. The Crimson Tide will face Kentucky Friday in Nashville.

The Wildcats beat Oklahoma 85-84 Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena. Kentucky won in dramatic fashion, first squandering a lead to the Sooners with 5.6 seconds remaining, before Otega Oweh scored a difficult left-handed layup to close out the victory and break OU’s heart.

Oweh led the Wildcats with 27 points in the win. He also had five rebounds for the team lead in that category, while Andrew Carr led UK in rebounds with seven.

Alabama won both regular season matchups against UK. UA went to Lexington in January, coming away with a 102-97 victory, before cruising to an even bigger victory 96-83 in February at Coleman Coliseum.

The Crimson Tide earned a double-bye to the SEC Tournament and is the No. 3 seed in Nashville. The Wildcats are the No. 6 seed, earning a single bye, opening their tournament by battling the Sooners, who took down Georgia in the first round.

It has been nearly a week since Alabama took the court. The Tide closed out the regular season on Saturday by beating Auburn on a buzzer-beater by Mark Sears.

Kentucky and Oklahoma played the late game on Thursday, a game that actually ended Friday due to the Texas-Texas A&M game earlier in the day going to double-overtime and slowing down the schedule.

Alabama could have one of its top young players back for Friday’s game. Derrion Reid, who has missed time due to a hamstring injury, was listed on the SEC’s availability report as questionable for the matchup Thursday.

The Crimson Tide and Kentucky are scheduled to tip off in the latest game on Friday. The matchup will begin at roughly 8:30 p.m. CT, 20 minutes after the conclusion of the 6 p.m. Missouri-Florida matchup.