Men's Basketball

Labaron Philon scored 21 points and fifth-ranked Alabama never trailed in routing number fifteen Kentucky 99-70 on Friday night to advance to the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals. The Crimson Tide will play fourth-ranked Florida looking to play for their second tournament title in three seasons.

The Alabama Crimson Tide punched its ticket to the Southeastern Conference tournament with last week’s buzzer beater over cross state rival Auburn. Kentucky won its chance to play the Crimson Tide just last night with a win over Oklahoma. Otega Oweh made a baseline jumper with 0.5 seconds left after No. 15 Kentucky had blown a late lead in the final minutes and the Wildcats beat Oklahoma 85-84 on Thursday night to advance to the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

Mark Sears hit a game-winning floater as time expired, and No. 7 Alabama spoiled the home finale of rival and No. 1 Auburn with a 93-91 overtime road win Saturday. The off-balance buzzer-beater from the free-throw line was only the third made basket of the game for Sears, who finished with nine points.

No. 7 Alabama takes on the No. 1 Auburn Tigers after Mark Sears scored 30 points in the Crimson Tide's 99-94 loss to the Florida Gators. Saturday's game is the second meeting of the season between the two teams. The Tigers won the last matchup 94-85. Auburn is 15-2 against the SEC, and Alabama is 12-5 against conference opponents.

The No. 7 Alabama men's basketball team is recovering after a 99-94 loss to No. 5 Florida during its final home game of the season. The Crimson Tide fell to 23-7 on the season and 12-5 in SEC play on Wednesday. UA now looks to its rematch with No. 1 Auburn over the weekend.

The college basketball season has wound down toward the end, with some conference tournaments already starting. The major conferences still have a week left in the regular season and that means rivalry games — and some big ones. This includes the rematch between top-ranked Auburn and No. 7 Alabama.

The Auburn men's basketball team is remaining atop the AP Top 25. The Tigers are the unanimous pick at No. 1 for the second straight week, receiving all 61 votes from a media panel.

Chris Youngblood scored a season-best 27 points and No. 6 Alabama made nearly half of its 45 attempts from 3-point range in a 111-73 win over No. 24 Mississippi State. Mark Sears had 21 points and 10 assists for the Crimson Tide, who set a season high for 3s by going 22 of 45 from long range.

Mark Sears of sixth-ranked Alabama is The Associated Press men’s college basketball national player of the week. The senior guard from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, became only the second player in the last 20 years with back-to-back 30-point games last week.

There are some big games in the SEC in men's college basketball this week. The biggest involve a couple of teams from the state of Alabama. Top-ranked Auburn faces Ole Miss before heading to Kentucky on Saturday, while the No. 6 Crimson Tide face Mississippi State and Tennessee.