Alabama and Texas A&M faced off in a much anticipated matchup tonight, and the Tide prevailed 100-97.
Alabama
Victory Thread: Alabama outlasts Aggies
This one was played at a breakneck pace from the beginning. Alabama started off hot and led by as much as nine early, but the Aggies battled back and tied things up at 46 headed into the locker room. Texas A&M shot a scorching 45% from three on 20 tries, including 2-for-3 from old friend Rylan Griffen. London Jemison shot it well to lead the Tide with 10 points, followed by nine from Latrell Wrightsell.
Alabama narrowly won the rebounding battle led by six from Aiden Sherrell. Most encouraging was Alabama successfully limiting turnovers to only two against the hyper-aggressive Texas A&M defense. The Tide didn’t shoot it particularly well from three.
Things stayed close to open the second half, as both teams kept pushing the pace and firing threes. With just over 12 minutes to play, Nate Oats was called for a technical foul after a loose ball foul on Charles Bediako with Alabama up 1. The Aggies made all four of the free throws , then got a stop and made a three on the other end. Houston Mallette answered with a three of his own, and the Aggies took a 70-67 lead into the second TV timeout.
A bucket from Rashaun Agee, a 25-year-old playing on a temporary injunction that seems to bother no one, pushed the lead out to five. Alabama pulled within three, but Jemison was called for a three-shot foul after knocking the ball away from Griffen as he loaded to shoot. It looked like Jemison got all ball, but that’s the way the call went and Griffen made all three for a 77-71 lead with just under nine minutes to play.
After an Alabama timeout, Labaron Philon knocked down a long three to pull within three. A stop on the other end set up Aden Holloway, who got into the paint for a floater and a foul to tie things up at 77 at the eight minute mark. Both teams were already in the double bonus at that stage, each with several players in foul trouble owing to the pace of play and physical nature of the game.
The two teams traded buckets for a couple of trips, but Alabama was able to go on a little 8-0 run to open up a 90-83 advantage. Agee was able to stop it with a strong move on the block and the Tide took a five point lead into the final TV timeout. Amari Allen was fouled headed into the break.
Allen made one of two when play resumed. Charles Bediako managed to grab the offensive board on the miss, but the Aggies forced a jump ball from Holloway to gain possession anyway. Alabama led by six at that stage, but the Aggies immediately went on a 6-0 spurt to tie things back up at 91 apiece with three minutes left.
The barnburner sustained, as neither team could keep the opposing guards out of the paint. A Wrightsell three from the corner put the Tide put 97-95 with a minute to play. The Aggies missed at the other end and Alabama was able to secure the rebound. Holloway then made the play of the night.
With the shot clock running dangerously low, Aden managed to get to the baseline and convert a circus shot through contact. He missed the free throw but Alabama still led by four with only 22 seconds left. It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that the Tide missed three free throws very late in this contest that would have put things out of reach.
Hill quickly took the ball to the hole and cut the lead to 99-97 with 15 seconds to play. Aggies coach Bucky McMillan called his final timeout to set up the full court press, and it worked. The ball was loose on the floor and a jump ball was called with 5.1 seconds left on the clock. Exactly 9.9 seconds had elapsed since the ball was inbounded, meaning that the Tide was all of one-tenth of a second from a 10-second violation.
The ball was inbounded to Allen and he was fouled immediately, but again made only one of two. Nate Oats chose to foul up three and it worked out. Agee missed the first unintentionally and the second intentionally. Griffen did get a fortuitous bounce for an open look at a three to tie, but he left it short and Alabama escaped.
This Texas A&M team is a pain to play and will continue to be. They play fast and hard, and can score in bunches. The Tide sorely needed this win.
Next up is a trip to Auburn. Charles Bediako’s attorneys have a conference call tomorrow to determine whether his injunction hearing will proceed on Friday as scheduled, or if his requested continuance will be granted. If Chuck is still eligible to play on Saturday, that game is going to be a circus.
Melissa Fortenberry saw a problem and sought a solution, a solution Alabama football is buying into.
Fortenberry invented HeatSense, a fitness tracker that measures athletes’ individual core body temperature with the “goal of proactively managing heat strain.” In August, Alabama will be Heat Sense’s first customer.
“They are all in,” Fortenberry told The Tuscaloosa News. “They very much want their player health to be at the top of the list.”
With a background in technology, Fortenberry came up with the idea of HeatSense as a fan, watching her three kids play youth sports in from the stands. She became sick, feeling dizzy and nauseous and coming to the conclusion that the pads and turf were hotter for athletes on the field.
Fortenberry conducted her own research and saw more reactive solutions than proactive.
“You can see heat strain forming in people and proactively cool them or keep pushing, where today, you’re flying blind,” Fortenberry said.
Jeff Allen, senior associate athletic director for health and performance and Alabama football’s head athletic trainer, has already been on the forefront of innovation for player safety, introducing the injury tent in 2015 to allow training staff and medical personnel to examine athletes privately on the sideline during games.
When Carson Tinker, a former Alabama and NFL long snapper and Fortenberry’s neighbor, heard about her idea, Allen was the first person Tinker thought of.
“Jeff was like, ‘Man, this sounds super interesting. Keep me in the loop with this,’” Tinker said. “It’s something he felt he knew that he could use. That was over a year ago now. … Now it’s all kind of come together. It’s crazy how it all kind of works out.”
“Once we got Jeff’s attention, he was really intrigued,” Fortenberry said, adding Allen “wants to be on the forefront of making the game better.”
Members of the HeatSense team attended an Alabama practice during its fourth-quarter program in March and put sensors on 10 players.
“I think the feedback they heard from players was validated in what we saw,” Fortenberry said.
Tinker views this not only as a safety tool, but an advantage overall to find a player’s peak body temperature.
“You want to be able to use the heat to your advantage. You want to be able to play your best in all conditions, but nobody knows until it’s too late and you got to get through in the cold tub because you overheated.”
Alabama is just the start for HeatSense, which has the goal of reaching three to five Division I programs this summer.
According to Weather Spark, the average temperature in Tuscaloosa eclipses 90 degrees during Alabama’s fall camp. Fortenberry now has a way for the Crimson Tide to respond.
“People, I think, are afraid of the heat, but you don’t know you can do something about it,” she said. “Now you can.”
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter or Instagram @colingaytnews.
A new survey of likely Republican runoff voters in Alabama suggests the state’s four statewide runoff contests remain at different stages heading into the June 16 election, with one race showing a clear leader, another appearing highly competitive, and a third remaining largely unsettled.
According to The Alabama Poll, which surveyed 600 likely Republican runoff voters on May 28, U.S. Senate candidate Jared Hudson leads Congressman Barry Moore 48.7% to 39.2%, while 12.1% of voters remain undecided. The poll indicates Hudson has built support among voters whose preferred candidates did not advance to the runoff.
In the race for lieutenant governor, Secretary of State Wes Allen holds a narrow overall lead over Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl, 41.9% to 38.4%. However, the survey found Wahl performing slightly better among voters who report they are certain to vote and among the most frequent Republican primary voters, highlighting the potential importance of turnout in the contest. Nearly one in five voters, 19.6%, remain undecided.
The attorney general runoff shows the largest margin among the four statewide races surveyed. Katherine Robertson leads Jay Mitchell 49.1% to 31.2%, with 19.7% of respondents undecided. Poll analysts noted that Mitchell’s path to closing the gap would likely depend on winning support from voters who view him favorably but have not yet committed to a candidate.
Meanwhile, the Republican runoff for commissioner of agriculture remains the most unsettled race in the survey. Corey Hill leads Christina Woerner McInnis 33.1% to 27.3%, but nearly 40% of likely runoff voters remain undecided, leaving substantial room for movement before Election Day.
Beyond the candidate matchups, the poll found Republican voters generally optimistic about the direction of Alabama, with 63.6% saying the state is headed in the right direction. At the same time, economic concerns continue to dominate voter priorities. Nearly 79% of respondents identified an economic issue as the most important problem facing the state, with grocery prices and utility costs cited most frequently.
The survey also found President Donald Trump’s approval rating among likely Republican runoff voters at 83.2%. Researchers reported that endorsements from both Trump and U.S. Senator Katie Britt carried similar persuasive weight among respondents.
The Alabama Poll surveyed 600 likely Republican primary runoff voters using a combination of live telephone interviews and text-message surveys. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points and was conducted May 28 among voters who said they are likely to participate in the June 16 Republican runoff election.
Former Alabama offensive lineman Barrett Jones and linebacker DeMeco Ryans are under consideration for the College Football Hall of Fame’s 2027 class, the National Football Foundation announced on Monday.
Dennis Franchione, who was Alabama’s head coach during the 2001 and 2002 seasons, is also under consideration. Franchione was a two-time NAIA National Coach of the Year before moving into Division I, where he led New Mexico to its first bowl in 36 years and TCU to its first postseason win since 1957. He took over a 3-8 Alabama team and led the Tide to a 10-win season in 2002, later guiding Texas A&M to consecutive victories over Texas (2006-07) and a berth in the 2005 Cotton Bowl.
Jones is a two-time First Team All-American (2011-unanimous, 2012-consensus) and winner of the 2012 NFF Campbell, 2012 Rimington, 2011 Outland and 2011 Wuerffel trophies. He Led Alabama to three national titles and two SEC crowns.
The three-time First Team All-SEC selection is arguably the most decorated offensive lineman in school history, winning national honors at three different positions (center, tackle, guard). The 2012 Alabama captain played through Lisfranc injury with at least two torn ligaments suffered in SEC Championship Game. He also played in the national title game before having surgery that kept him out of the NFL combine.
DeMeco Ryans, who is currently the head coach of the Houston Texans, could be considered the best player of the Mike Shula years as he was the program’s top draft pick between 1998-08 (between first-round selections Dwayne Rudd and Andre Smith).
During his senior season, the linebacker led Alabama with 76 tackles including 9.5 for a loss, en route to being named a first-team All-American, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and Lott Trophy winner as college football’s best impact defensive player.
These three are among 80 players and nine coaches from the FBS, along with 99 players and 39 coaches from the NCAA divisional and NAIA ranks.
Alabama currently has 28 representatives in the College Football Hall of Fame, with the most recent inductees being Heisman Trophy-winning running back Mark Ingram in the 2026 class and seven-time national champion (six at Alabama) head coach Nick Saban in the 2025 class. Ingram was the first Crimson Tide player under Saban to be inducted.
Alabama in the College Football Hall of Fame
(Member, Year Inducted)
- Don Hutson, 1951
- Frank Thomas, 1951
- Fred Sington, 1955
- Wallace Wade, 1955
- Don Whitmire (transferred to Navy after two years), 1956
- Johnny Mack Brown, 1957
- Pooley Hubert, 1964
- Millard “Dixie” Howell, 1970
- John Cain, 1973
- Lee Roy Jordan, 1983
- Riley Smith, 1985
- Paul “Bear” Bryant, 1986
- Vaughn Mancha, 1990
- Harry Gilmer, 1993
- Ozzie Newsome, 1994
- John Hannah, 1999
- Johnny Musso, 2000
- Billy Neighbors, 2003
- Cornelius Bennett, 2005
- Woodrow Lowe, 2009
- Gene Stallings, 2010
- Marty Lyons, 2011
- Derrick Thomas, 2014
- E.J. Junior, 2020
- Sylvester Croom, 2022
- Antonio Langham, 2024
- Nick Saban, 2025
- Mark Ingram, 2026
Sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Threads, and Blue Sky for the latest news.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Follow
-
Kansas5 minutes agoCommentary: Kansas fans stepped up to prevent a Razorback takeover | Whole Hog Sports
-
Kentucky12 minutes agoBryian Duncan Jr. flips from Kentucky to West Virginia
-
Louisiana15 minutes ago
Louisiana drivers soon will say goodbye to inspection stickers
-
Maine20 minutes agoStalwart 7 in Varsity Maine baseball poll
-
Maryland27 minutes agoMaryland Governor calls out Apple over Towson Town Center store closure – 9to5Mac
-
Michigan30 minutes agoSterling Heights to consider opposing Michigan House tax policy bills
-
Massachusetts35 minutes agoGov. Healey backs bill to keep Mass. bars open until 3 a.m. this summer
-
Minnesota42 minutes agoMinnesota GOP disavows Chauvin moment of silence at convention
