The Alabama Guard Who Nate Oats Recognizes as Ultimate Example

Alabama men's basketball dismantled North Dakota 91-62 at home on Monday night in its season opener.

Three of Alabama's five returners from last year's team played against the Fighting Hawks and each of them thrived in different ways. Guard Labaron Philon Jr. scored 22 points with eight assists, forward Aiden Sherrell blocked a career-high four shots, but guard Houston Mallette found a way to grab four offensive rebounds.

Mallette only played in six games last season due to lingering knee injuries, but he was back like he never left on Monday. In addition to the four offensive rebounds, the graduate scored 15 points on 4 of 6 from the field, while also dishing a pair of assists.

"He plays so hard," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said after the game. "I told our team in the locker room afterwards, 'So many guys are struggling to go get offensive rebounds.' Taylor [Bol Bowen] had zero, he had zero in the exhibition. Like, he doesn't get offensive rebounds ever. Like, 'Go look at Houston. Study Houston's film.' He goes every time. He had four boards.

"He plays so hard he has to ask to come out of the game. He gives so much effort. Like, we've got a lot of guys on the team that are learning from him, but we got a few guys that need to learn to play as hard as Houston plays. And they did, we'd be a lot better team.

"So I think Houston can lead, because he's the hardest playing guy on the floor all the time. He's the ultimate teammate. He gets super fired up whenever his teammates do well. Houston's all about the right stuff, in my opinion. He's a winner. He impacts winning at a high level."

Mallette has been appointed as a leader of this team by Oats on numerous occasions and he's also received "breakout candidate" labels during the offseason. Oats previously explained that the guard "studies more film than almost any player I've ever had," and his leadership and effort has rubbed off on his teammates.

Oats has also emphasized that Philon be more vocal this season, as the sophomore withdrew from the 2025 NBA Draft for a variety of reasons, including his inexperience as a leader. Philon has extremely high expectations this season, as the PreseasonAll-SEC First Team selection is a member of the following watch lists: Naismith Trophy, NABC Player of the Year Watch List and the Bob Cousy Award.

Despite all of the recognition, Philon is completely in awe of having a person like Houston Mallette on his team.

"He's a really good leader on and off the court," Philon said after the game. "It's so unbelievable to have a teammate like him. It's just so crazy that he's always in the perfect spot and he knows how to talk to people. It's so crazy, like he's one of the best people and teammates that I've ever been around in my whole career of playing basketball."