Alabama Took Down Florida State in their Exhibition - What Did we Learn

Labaron Philon Handles the Ball. Image Courtesy of UA Athletics

Alabama took down Florida State 109 to 105 in their Ballin in Boutwell Exhibition on Thursday night. The team got their first chance to play someone not in a crimson jersey, and the fans got their first look at the 2025-26 edition of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama had 3 guys who were unable to play in this exhibition: Latrell Wrightsell, Noah Williamson, and Jalil Bethea, all sitting. Wrightsell and Williamson should potentially be ready for the Furman scrimmage next Sunday, but Bethea will be out until late November at least due to his offseason surgery. Even with the sloppiness of your first live action against another team I think Alabama fans still have a few things they can take away from the exhibition win.

1. Labaron Philon is BACK - Labaron Philon looks like the potential first-rounder, which he was poised to be prior to returning for his sophomore season. Philon has spent a ton of time working on his shot from deep as well as his leadership on the court, and both were very evident Thursday night. Philon led the game in scoring with 28 points, but the two things which stood out to me are his shot from deep and his handles in traffic. Labaron was able to get to his spot at ease, and it felt like the game was slowing down for him as he moved through the defense. Labaron Philon showed in this one why he will compete for SEC and National POTY and is poised to lead Alabama very far this season.

2. Offense Will be Elite Again - Alabama was able to score 109 points while missing two guys that many people would have listed as potential starters in Wrightsell and Bethea. The offensive output that we saw from Alabama also clearly has room for improvement with Holloway and Mallete combining to go 4-16 shooting from behind the arc. Those 2 guys are some of the best shooters on the team and just seemed to be a bit off on Thursday, but when you can still put up 109 despite that, you have to love what you saw. Additionally, Alabama struggled turning the ball over and rebounding the basketball, so when Nate Oats is able to clean those up and get them into true midseason form, watch out because this team will be scary on offense again.

3. Freshmen Came Ready to Play - Alabama brought in 4 freshmen, including the reclassifying Onyejiaka for this season, and all 4 of them had some moments in this game. Collins had by far the least, just due to his size and the pace that this game was played at, but even still, at 6’11”, 270, he seemed to move a bit better than I expected. The other 3 freshmen, however, got much more playing time and seemed to show why Nate was high on this freshmen class, despite a few of them being underranked in his opinion. Amari Allen and Davion Hannah, I think, made the best impression in this one; they showed their willingness to be physical, grabbing 13 rebounds combined, as well as their stellar athleticism, with Hannah attempting a poster dunk which would have brought the house down. Allen did struggle to get going from behind the arc, but it is clear that these freshmen will be able to contribute for Alabama this season.

4. Defense Has Potential but Will Need Work - I would be remiss if I did not point out the fact that Alabama also gave up 105 points to this FSU team. Now, due to this being an exhibition, it felt much more like an NBA All-Star game with defense being optional at times, and I know that will change when the official season gets underway. Even still, I think that Alabama will have some work to do on defense, making sure they defend without fouling and know what their assignments are. It’s hard to know what their interior defense will look like due to the style in which this game was played. Sherrell and Onyejiaka only combined for 20 minutes and were not super effective in that time. This will be something to watch out for in the next scrimmage and beginning of the season because it is something Nate Oats mentioned in his Media Day press conference.

Alabama's next scrimmage will be against Furman on October 26th at 2 p.m. CT on ESPN+. I would expect to see Latrell and Noah in that game, and it also should give us some more insights into what Alabama has heading into their first matchup with North Dakota on November 3rd.

Full Box Score from Thursday.