Alabama Basketball Falls to No. 18 in AP Top 25 Rankings

Alabama drops five spots in the latest AP top 25 poll after suffering a disappointing week, which saw the Crimson Tide lose both of their conference games, with both games being decided by two possessions or less.

Get our free mobile app

The Crimson Tide comes in this week ranked No.18 in the nation, which is the lowest that the Crimson Tide has been ranked since March of 2024. They started last week ranked No.13 in the top 25 AP poll. After a disappointing week, Alabama fell to No.11 Vanderbilt, which jumped one spot in the newest top-25 AP poll. The 96-90 win by Vanderbilt came in Nashville last Wednesday. It happened despite an incredible double-double from Alabama’s freshman forward Amari Allen, who finished with a team-leading 25 points and 11 rebounds. London Jemison matched Allen’s 11 rebounds to lead the team as well.

Alabama dropped another close game on Saturday at home in Coleman Coliseum. Texas picked up its first conference win of the season in a close 92-88 victory. Alabama lost despite Labaron Philon’s 25 points and five assists in the four-point defeat. The loss gave Alabama its second conference defeat of the season.

Head coach Nate Oats shared his frustrations after the brutal week following the Tide’s six-point loss to Texas on Saturday, where Oats shared that he feels like his players don’t care enough.

“We got guys that don’t care enough to lock in and follow a game plan,” Oats added. “Losing doesn’t bother them enough yet. I don’t know how many losses it’s going to take till it bothers them, but it’s bothering me. It bothers the coaching staff, and as soon as it starts bothering the players enough, I’m sure they’ll change.”

Five teams from the SEC (N0.10 Vanderbilt, No.17 Arkansas, No.18 Alabama, No.21 Georgia, and No.24 Tennessee) were featured on this week's top-25 AP Poll, with Vanderbilt being ranked the highest at No.10.

Complete List of Top-25 AP Poll

1.  Arizona
2. Iowa State
3. Uconn
4. Michigan
5. Purdue
6. Duke
7. Houston
8. Nebraska
9. Gonzaga
10. Vanderbilt
11. BYU
12. Michigan State
13. Illinois
14. North Carolina
15. Texas Tech
16. Virginia
17. Arkansas
18. Alabama
19. Florida
20. Louisville
21. Georgia
22. Clemson
23. Utah State
24. Tennessee
25. Seton Hall

Oats and his squad will look to avenge last week’s 0-2 performance as the Tide will face two more conference opponents this week with both games being on the road with a trip to Starkville on Tuesday January 13th to take on Mississippi State (10-6), and then they will finish the week on Saturday January 17th as they head to Norman to face off against Oklahoma (11-5).

Follow @Micahnichols0 on X (formerly known as Twitter) and tune into Tide100.9 for all your Alabama basketball, football, and baseball coverage.