Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats briefed the media on star guard Labaron Philon’s status ahead of the Tide’s clash with Tennessee on Saturday. Philon missed No. 17 Alabama’s last game, a 100-75 defeat of Mississippi State, with an unspecified ailment.

Oats did not guarantee the sophomore guard’s return for the matchup with Tennessee, although he disclosed that he practiced on Friday.

“He’s chomping at the bit to get back,” Oats told the media on Friday. “We’ll see if Clarke clears him, but he did participate in some of the practice today.”

Although the Tide dominated Mississippi at home without Philon in the lineup, his presence will be crucial for the matchup with the Vols. Philon is averaging 21.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 5.0 assists this season.

Labaron Philon may have played against Mississippi State if he was badly needed in action, according to AL.com’s Nick Kelly. Judging by the result, however, Nate Oats’ team did just fine without its star guard.

In Philon’s absence, five of his teammates contributed double-digit points, as the tide shot from beyond the arc 22 times. Amari Allen, Latrel Wrightsell, Aden Holloway, Aiden Sherrell, and Taylor Bol Bowen all delivered double-digit scoring.

Labaron Philon’s recent form for the Crimson Tide

Labaron Philon delivered a career-high 35-point performance to help the Tide to a double overtime 117-115 victory over Arkansas last week. He followed this up with an eight-point performance in the 90-83 win over LSU. Oats explained the dip in form during his postgame press conference.

“Baron’s obviously banged up. Played a lot of minutes Wednesday night,” Oats said following the win over LSU. “We held him out of practice. He had some, just a lot of basketball bumps, bruises, just couldn’t get loose. We didn’t practice on Thursday; he just did a video and a short walk-through.”

The Tide are 21-7 on the season, sitting two games behind Florida in the SEC standings with an 11-4 record in conference play. The team is tied for second with Arkansas, although it owns the tiebreaker with a head-to-head advantage over the Razorbacks.

The tip-off for Alabama’s clash with Tennessee is set for 6:00 p.m. (ET) on Saturday. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN.

Meanwhile, Alabama will get on the road again for a game against Georgia before concluding the regular season with a home game against Auburn.