Nate Oats knows what sophomore guard Labaron Philon is capable of at both ends of the court, and when Philon falls short of those expectations, his head coach isn’t afraid to say it publicly.
A few days after a demoralizing loss at Florida in which Alabama gave up exactly 100 points and was blown out of the O’Connell Center in the second half, Oats spoke about a range of topics with reporters. One of those Tuesday topics in the leadup to Wednesday night’s home showdown against Texas A&M centered around Philon and his defensive play against the Gators.
In this case, it was a lack of defense that Oats was so upset about, and he challenged Philon to be better on that end of the floor going forward.
“I think we have to get better effort out of him on defense,” Oats said. “He’s taken a major step backwards on the defensive end.”
Those were major words from the head coach toward one of his best players, and there are numbers to back up Oats’ assertion. Philon had a defensive rating of 107.5 last season, but this season that number is 112.4, which is nearly 5 points per 100 possessions worse. That’s quite a drop off for Philon, and Oats needs it to change.
Nate Oats on Labaron Philon's defense:"I think we have to get better effort out of him on defense… he's taken a major step backwards on the defensive end."
— Theodore Fernandez (@TheoFernandez__) February 3, 2026While Philon is averaging a team-leading 21.6 points per game this season and shooting a stellar 51% from the field, it’s his performance on the other end of the court that has Oats’ attention, for all the wrong reasons.
Also, even though Philon’s minutes per game are up this season by about 5 per game, his steals are down slightly, which is another indicator that his defensive prowess isn’t quite where it was or where Oats needs it to be right now.
We’ll see if Philon takes those words to heart and does something about it on Wednesday night against the Aggies.
Prediction Markets SEC Basketball Regular Season Champion? Kalshi Florida 62.0% Texas A&M 19.0% Vanderbilt 9.0% Tennessee 6.0% Arkansas 3.0% Predict Learn more about Prediction MarketsNate Oats calls out Labaron Philon for defensive effort: ‘Major step backwards’ Saturday Down South.
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