CHICAGO — Alabama sophomore guard Labaron Philon scored 24 points as the 11th-ranked Crimson Tide beat No. 8 Illinois 90-86 on Wednesday night at the United Center.
The matchup, played at the home of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, was the closer-to-home return game for the Fighting Illini in a set of neutral-site matchups with the Tide, who beat Illinois 100-87 nearly a year to the day earlier at Legacy Arena in Birmingham.
Philon made a trio 3-pointers and had five assists, while Taylor Bol Bowen scored 12 points and Aden Holloway added 11 to help the Tide (3-1) squeeze out a tight win in their third straight game against a top-10 team. They bounced back from last Thursday’s 87-80 home loss to Purdue in Tuscaloosa — which came on the heels of a 103-96 victory over St. John’s at New York’s Madison Square Garden — though they sure got all they could handle in this one.
Andrej Stojakovic led Illinois (4-1) with 26 points, and Kylan Boswell had 22.
Alabama was clinging to a 79-76 lead when Philon pulled up for a 3 with 1:15 remaining, but Illinois stayed in it, with Boswell responding with a three-point play.