Alabama
Appalachian State
Alabama and Appalachian State set to Square Off Sunday Night in Coleman Coliseum
11/10/2018 2:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide and Mountaineers set to play non-bracketed game of the Charleston Classic
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team will close out its two-game homestand to open the 2018-19 campaign when it welcomes the Appalachian State Mountaineers for a Sunday night affair. It will mark the third meeting in series history between the two teams, with the Crimson Tide winning each of the previous two contests.
PROMOTIONS
• BAMA SALUTE – Free limited edition Alabama hats while supplies last.
THE BROADCAST
• Sunday's game will air on SEC Network with Mike Morgan and Pat Bradley on the call.
• The radio broadcast can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network, Chris Stewart (play-by-play) and Bryan Passink (analyst) on the call. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.
ALABAMA BEGINS 106th SEASON OF BASKETBALL
• Alabama will begin its 106th season of basketball in 2018-19. The Tide's first season of hoops came in 1912-13. There was no season in 1943-44 due to World War II.
• The Tide has an all-time record of 1,658-1,030-1 (.617), which includes a 783-606 (.559) record in SEC play. The program's first year of play was 1912-13.
• Alabama ranks second in the SEC in league victories and all-time winning percentage.
• UA has made 35 NCAA (20) or NIT (15) appearances and has won seven SEC regular-season titles and six SEC Tournament championships.
ABOUT ALABAMA
• Alabama opened the 2018-19 campaign with a resounding 82-62 win over Southern last Tuesday night in Coleman Coliseum. Senior forward Donta Hall led the Tide with a career high-tying 20 points, connecting on 8-of-9 shots from the field. Hall was one of four players to finish in double-digit scoring.
• Alabama welcomes back three of its top four and nine of the top 11 scorers from last season's squad. Leading the list of returnees is senior forward Donta Hall, who leads all returning players in scoring (10.6 ppg). Last season, the Luverne, Ala., native topped the squad in rebounding (6.6 rpg), blocks (2.0 bpg), dunks (68) and field goal percentage (.726) .
• Hall is joined by sophomore John Petty, who was one of only two players to see action in all 36 contests a year ago (Avery Johnson Jr.). Petty led the Tide last season in three-point shooting (90-of-242, .393), while also contributing 10.2 points and 1.8 assists per game in 2017-18, which both rank second-best among all returnees. Meanwhile, junior Dazon Ingram was also a force to reckon with at 9.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, while returning as the team leader in assists (2.6 apg) and free throws made and attempted (122-of-177).
•Senior Riley Norris returns for his graduate year after receiving a medical redshirt last year, and joins senior Avery Johnson Jr. (36 games played, 4.3 points, 1.1 rebounds per game), junior Daniel Giddens (4.2 points, 2.5 rebounds) and a trio of sophomores in Herbert Jones (4.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game), Alex Reese (4.2 points, 32.4 percent from three) and Galin Smith (2.8 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.7 blocks per game) as veteran players who will look to make key contributions for the Crimson Tide in 2018-19.
• Junior guard/forward Tevin Mack will be eligible after sitting out the 2017-18 season as an NCAA transfer. Mack, who played his first two seasons at Texas, played in 48 games in his two seasons at Texas and finished with double-digit points 16 times including three games of 20 or more points. Mack led the team in 2016-17 in scoring average (14.8 ppg) and three-point percentage (.391) despite playing just 15 games.
ABOUT APPALACHIAN STATE
• Alabama and Appalachian State will meet for the third time in program history when the two teams take the floor on Sunday night. Alabama is a perfect 2-0 the series, with the last victory coming by way of a narrow 60-59 win over the Mountaineers on Dec. 21, 2014 inside Coleman Coliseum.
• Head coach Jim Fox begins his fifth year at the helm of the Appalachian State men's basketball program and returns a total of 13 players (including redshirts) from last season's squad that posted 15 victories. In addition, the Black and Gold finished in a tie for fifth place in the Sun Belt and earned the No. 5 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament.
• Appalachian State appeared in the receiving votes section of the Collegeinsider.com Men's Mid-Major Top 25 Preseason poll. The Mountaineers received 11 votes, which was the third most for a Sun Belt school behind Louisiana (403) and Georgia State (368)
• In voting conducted by the Sun Belt, Appalachian State was chosen to finish sixth in the conference with 86 points. The Mountaineers were just three points shy of tying ULM and Troy for fourth place. Defending Sun Belt Tournament champion Georgia State was chosen to win the league. Ronshad Shabazz was tabbed as a Preseason First Team All-Sun Belt honoree by the league. Shabazz has been named All-Sun Belt the past two seasons, including a Second Team selection last season.
NEWS AND NOTES
• Alabama won for the 47th time in 51 regular season openers played under the arched roof of Coleman Coliseum (47-4) with its 20-point win over Southern last Tuesday night. With the victory, the Crimson Tide improved to 85-21 all-time in season openers.
• Last year, Alabama was the fourth-youngest team in Division I and did not have a senior on its active roster. This season, the Crimson Tide not only has four seniors on its 2018-19 roster, but will have a total of seven players who have graduated or will graduate throughout the course of the upcoming campaign. Both Avery Johnson Jr. and Riley Norris have graduated and are currently pursuing their graduate degrees. Meanwhile, Donta Hall, Dazon Ingram, Daniel Giddens, Tevin Mack and Lawson Schaffer are all on pace to earn a degree this year. Only one other school in the nation (Southern Illinois) can claim to have as many as seven players who either have graduated or will graduate on its 2018-19 roster.
• Freshman Kira Lewis Jr. is the second-youngest player in NCAA Division I this season. Lewis, a native Meridianville, Ala., who graduated early from high school, won't turn 18 until April 6, 2019. On Pepperdine's Everett Perrot is younger, having been born on April 12, 2001.
• Alabama was picked to finish seventh in the Southeastern Conference by a vote of the league's media and head coaches.
CLEAR BAG POLICY
• Alabama Athletics' clear bag policy, which has been used at Bryant-Denny Stadium since the 2016 season, will now be implemented at all home ticketed sporting events, beginning with the men's basketball regular season opener on November 6.
• Fans are strongly encouraged to not bring any unauthorized types of bags to ticketed Alabama sporting events.
• For more information on Alabama Athletics' Clear Bag Policy, visit RollTide.com/allclear
For all the latest information on the team, follow AlabamaMBB on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. General athletic news can be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.
