Nate Oats talks potential go-to scoring options on 2025-26 roster
Alabama basketball’s scoring output will look quite different in the 2025-26 season after losing three of its top six scorers from its Elite Eight team last season. The top of those scorers was Mark Sears, who’s been one of the best scorers in all of college basketball the past two seasons averaging right around 20 points per game.
Joining The Sideline with Andy Katz on Thursday, Alabama head coach Nate Oats was asked who that go-to scorer could be on the Crimson Tide’s 2025-26 roster with Sears off to the NBA.
“Labaron (Philon) is obviously super talented,” Oats said. “Came back, would have gotten drafted late first, early second or whatever it was. He decided to come back which is great for us, hopefully he can play his way into the lottery. So he’s obviously at the top, but he’s also one of your guys that can create for some other guys that can make a shot.”
Philon was a revelation last season as a true freshman that’s now one of the top returning guards in the SEC. At 10.6 points per game he was one of the Tide’s top scorers a year ago, and is arguably the team’s best player entering this coming season.
“I think (Latrell) Wrightsell’s made some big shots here in the past,” Oats said. “He’s coming off an Achilles but hopefully he’s ready to go Game 1, and if not pretty quick into the year. Houston Mallette’s a transfer from Pepperdine we redshirted last year to get his knees right. He’s looking pretty good. He’s definitely an option. Then I think (Aden) Holloway has made some big shots.”
Top 10
- 1New
JP Poll Top 20
Big shakeup after Week 2
- 2
Heisman Odds shakeup
Big movement among favorites
- 3Hot
Eli Drinkwitz comes clean
Knew rule was broken
- 4
Deion Sanders
Fires back at media
- 5Trending
Big 12 punishes ref crew
Costly mistake in Kansas-Mizzou
Get the Daily On3 Newsletter in your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
Wrightsell and Holloway are Alabama’s top two returning scorers at 11.5 and 11.4 points per game last year respectively, though Wrightsell only did it for eight games before suffering a season-ending injury. Mallette showed some ridiculous shooting potential at a 50 percent clip in the six games he played before he was shut down for the season due to injury.
Alabama will have a number of consistent scoring options available this season and a ton of shooting on the perimeter, which leads Oats to believe the scoring could be more spread out compared to having one scorer handling the bulk of the load.
“Mark Sears was a first team All-American. Before that we had Brandon Miller. We’ve had some guys like that,” Oats said. “I think somebody will emerge, or it might be one of those deals where game-to-game you put the ball in whoever it is, Labaron’s hands, and he makes the right read and finds somebody to make an open shot. But we will have shooting, that’s for sure. We’re gonna have a whole lot of shooting out there.”
Not a member, Alabama fans? Join BOL today!
Have you subscribed to BamaOnLine.com yet? You can sign up for ONE MONTH of premium access to our Alabama coverage for just $11.99! Be able to read all of BOL’s premium articles and nuggets covering Alabama sports and recruiting, and also join thousands of other Crimson Tide fans around the globe on the BOL Round Table message board! CLICK HERE!
