BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Brayden Burries scored 28 points, 20 of those coming during a 14-minute second-half flurry, and the top-ranked Arizona men’s basketball team roared back from its first halftime deficit of the season to beat No. 12 Alabama on Saturday night, 96-75, in the C.M. Newton Classic at Legacy Arena.
The Wildcats (9-0) trailed by two points at halftime before seizing command with a 14-1 run, highlighted by Burries making three consecutive baskets. Burries was 5-for-10 from 3-point range, mitigating a quiet night for fellow freshman Koa Peat, who was saddled by foul trouble and scored six points, far off his average of 15.9 per game.
Labaron Philon Jr. scored 24 points, including a twisting pullup in the lane that gave Alabama (7-3) a 41-39 lead entering halftime. That was the final highlight for the Crimson Tide, who couldn’t match Arizona’s intensity over the final 20 minutes.
“They are the number one team in the country for a reason,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said in postgame comments released by the Tide. “We came out, didn’t have a good start, and it just progressively got worse. They scored 39 in the entire first half and had 39 in less than 12 minutes to start the second half. So starting the second half was bad. Obviously they came out of halftime ready to play, and we didn’t.”
Motiejus Krivas, Arizona’s 7-foot-2 Lithuanian center, finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Junior point guard Jaden Bradley added 14 points and seven assists, haunting the same program he helped earn the top overall seed in the 2023 NCAA Division I tournament before transferring after that season.