Men's Basketball Hosts Rival Auburn on Saturday
1/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama will play its second game in 48 hours, as the Tide will welcome rival Auburn to Coleman Coliseum on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
The contest is sold out and it will also be a "white out" in which 10,000 white t-shirts will be given away prior to the game.
THE coaches
Alabama head coach Anthony Grant is in his sixth season at the helm of the men's basketball program. He owns a record of 111-77 (.590) during his time at the Capstone and is 187-102 (.647) now in his in ninth season as a head coach. Head coach Bruce Pearl is in his first season at Auburn. Now in his 11th season as a Division I head coach, Pearl has a career record of 241-107 (.693).
THE SERIES
Alabama and Auburn will the 150th meeting on the hardwood between the two schools, which is the fourth-most games UA has played against any one opponent. The Crimson Tide owns a 90-59 edge in the series. Alabama has won seven of the last nine games played between the two teams, including five straight at home. UA owns an all-time record of 46-8 when playing Auburn in Tuscaloosa, including a 39-7 record against the Tigers in Coleman Coliseum.
MORE ABOUT SATURDAY'S MATCH-UP
Alabama head coach Anthony Grant owns a record of 7-3 when playing against Auburn, including a 5-0 mark against the Tigers in Coleman Coliseum ... Saturday's contest will mark the first of two games played between the two teams, as the Tide will make the return trip to Auburn on Feb. 17 (8 p.m. CT on ESPNU) ... this marks the third meeting between Grant and Pearl, as the two squared off during Pearl's time at Tennessee ... Alabama and Tennessee split its two games with Tennessee winning 63-56 in 2010 and Alabama capturing a 65-60 overtime win in 2011.
UP NEXT
Alabama will play its second consecutive home game as the Tide welcomes the Florida Gators to Coleman Coliseum on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN. The contest, which will mark Alabama's third game in six days, will be the lone time the two teams will meet this season.
SCOUTING ALABAMA
? Alabama (12-6, 2-3 SEC) is in the midst of a challenging six-day stretch in which the Tide will play three SEC games. Alabama will play its second game in 48 hours as the Tide begins a two-game home stretch against Auburn on Saturday (7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network), followed by home game against Florida next Tuesday (8 p.m. CT on ESPN).
? Senior guard Levi Randolph leads Alabama in scoring (14.8 ppg), assists (2.6 apg), steals (1.6) and minutes (33.8 mpg) through the Tide's 18 contests. The Madison, Ala., native currently ranks fourth in the SEC in free throw percentage (.835), eighth in steals and ninth in scoring entering Saturday's contest.
? Junior guard Ricky Tarrant ranks second on the team with 13.3 ppg, while also leading the squad in threes made (27) and attempted (89). Senior guard Rodney Cooper is third on this year's squad with 10.9 ppg this season and is tied with Tarrant for the team lead in threes made (27), while ranking second on the squad in 3-point shooting (43.5 percent).
? Sophomore forward Shannon Hale is the fourth on the team in scoring, contributing 7.6 points along with 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists a contest. In addition, sophomore forward Jimmie Taylor leads the team in blocks per game (1.7) and field goal percentage (.630), and is second with 5.0 rebounds per game, while also chipping in with 4.7 points per contest.
? As a team, the Tide is outscoring the opposition by 6.0 points per game (70.2-64.2) through its 18 games. Alabama is also averaging 7.3 steals and 3.7 blocks per game.
ALABAMA-AUBURN - SERIES NOTES
? Saturday's game will mark the 150th meeting on the hardwood between the two schools, which is the fourth-most games UA has played against any one opponent. The Crimson Tide owns a 90-59 edge in the series.
? It will mark the first of two meetings between the Tide and Tigers this season. Alabama will make the return trip to Auburn on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 8 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
? Head coach Anthony Grant has an all-time record of 7-3 when he has faced the Tigers, including a perfect 5-0 mark when playing Auburn in Tuscaloosa.
? UA owns an all-time record of 39-7 when playing Auburn in Coleman Coliseum. The Tide is 46-8 when hosting AU in Tuscaloosa.
? Alabama has won seven of the last nine games played between the two teams, including five straight at home.
? The two teams have played in 11 overtimes in series history, with the last one coming Feb. 21, 2001. Auburn has won eight of the 11 games that have went to extra time.
? The series began during 1923-24 campaign.
NOTES FROM ALABAMA-ARKANSAS GAME
? Thursday's game between Alabama and Arkansas was the 58th meeting in series history. With the Razorbacks overtime victory, they improve to 30-28 in the all-time series. The contest marked the lone meeting between the two teams this season.
? Alabama dropped to 6-18 when playing Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark., including having lost seven of the last eight times. Furthermore, UA head coach Anthony Grant owns a record of 6-4 when his teams have faced Arkansas, including a 1-4 mark at Bud Walton Arena.
? The contest marked the first overtime game this year for the Tide. Alabama falls to 3-2 in overtime contests against Arkansas, with all five overtime games have come within the last 10 seasons.
? Freshman Justin Coleman had the best game of his rookie season when the Tide took on the Razorbacks. Coleman finished with five three-pointers and 22 points - both career-high numbers. The Birmingham, Ala., native scored all of his points after the halftime, shooting 5-of-7 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in just 15 minutes of action in the second half.
? Both Coleman and junior guard Ricky Tarrant (21 points) accounted for 20 or more points in the game, which marked the second time this season a Tide duo has scored 20 or more points in a contest. The only other time it occurred came in the win over Arizona State and Levi Randolph (28) and Tarrant (21) achieved the feat.
? Tarrant (19 points) and Coleman (20) combined to score 39 of the Tide's 48 second half points. Over the final 20 minutes, the duo combined to hit 10-of-16 from the floor and 8-of-13 from deep.
? Alabama had four players foul out of the game: Jimmie Taylor, Rodney Cooper, Michael Kessens and Levi Randolph.
HOME SWEET HOME
? Now in his sixth seasons at UA, Grant has a record of 82-18 (.820) on Alabama's home floor. During the 2013-14 season, the Tide finished 13-4 at home and outscored teams by an average of 9.5 points a game (73.4-63.8). This year, Alabama is 10-1 in home games and is outscoring the competition by 10.2 points per game (69.5-59.3).
? Since the start of the 2010-11 campaign, Grant has won 71 of the last 83 games played under the arched roof of Coleman Coliseum (71-12; .855).
? Overall, Alabama owns a record of 540-121 (.815) in the facility's 47th season of use.
? Grant also led UA to 24 straight home victories that spanned the final home game of the 2009-10 season through the beginning of the 2011-12 season.
SEC HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
? In the past three years, Alabama has won 17 of its last 20 home games against SEC foes (17-3, .850).
? Since Grant's arrival in 2009, Alabama owns a home record of 35-9 (.795) against SEC competition. Since 2011, the Tide boasts a 31-5 (.861) mark at home against the conference.
WHO'S HOT?
? Justin Coleman went for a career-high 22 points and knocked down 5-of-7 three-pointers at Arkansas, which are both season-best numbers. Heading into the contest, Coleman had scored a combined nine points over the previous seven games, including five games in which he went scoreless.
? Junior guard Ricky Tarrant has reached double figures in six of his last eight contests, including an Alabama career-best 24-point scoring output vs. UCLA. Over the stretch, Tarrant is averaging a team-best 14.0 points per game.
? Over his last four contests, senior guard Rodney Cooper is averaging 12.3 points and 3.8 rebounds a game, while connecting on 56.3 percent from both the field (18-of-32) and beyond the arc (9-of-16) during the stretch.
? Over his last eight games, forward Michael Kessens has a pair of double-doubles, while averaging 9.0 points and a team-best 7.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 54.7 percent from the field.
ALABAMA UPCOMING MILESTONES TO WATCH
? When senior Levi Randolph (1,080 points) scores his next point, he will pass former Tide player Jimmy Hollon (1,080 points) and move into 43rd on the school's all-time scoring list.
? Randolph needs just six more steals to crack the program's top-10 list of all-time steals leaders. He enters the Tide's upcoming contest with 128 steals in his career.
? Senior Rodney Cooper is nearing the 1,000-point milestone. He currently has 940 points and needs 60 points to achieve the feat. In doing so, he would become the 48th player in school history, and second this season, to reach the 1,000-point scoring milestone.
? Sophomore Jimmie Taylor has 71 blocks for his career, just 29 shy of becoming the first Alabama player since JaMychael Green (2009-12) to record 100 blocks for his career.
? Grant is 11 games shy of his 300th career game as a head coach (VCU and Alabama). Grant is also just 12 games from coaching his 200th game at The University of Alabama.
? Alabama has 1,593 wins in program history, The Tide needs seven wins to become the 30th D-I program to reach the 1,600-win plateau.
