First Road Test For Alabama Men’s Basketball Comes Friday Night at Rhode Island

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama will play its first road contest of the season when it travels to take on the Rhode Island Rams on Friday night in Kingston, R.I. The contest, which will be televised on NBC Sports Network, will tipoff at 6:30 p.m. CT (7:30 p.m. ET).

This marks just the third meeting on the hardwood between Alabama and Rhode Island and the second meeting in the last three seasons. The Tide owns a 2-0 lead in the all-time series including a 68-64 victory over the Rams on Dec. 6, 2017 inside Coleman Coliseum.

Alabama is coming off a 78-59 victory over Florida Atlantic this past Monday night – the first win of the Nate Oats era. Four UA players reached double figures, while seven players who saw action grabbed at least four or more rebounds to help the Tide to a 45-32 advantage on the glass.

The Broadcast

Tuesday's game will air on NBC Sports Network with Rich Lerner (play-by-play) and Ron Thompson (analyst) on the call.
The radio broadcast can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network, Roger Hoover (play-by-play) and Bryan Passink (analyst) on the call. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.

Notes You Need To Know

Alabama captured its first win of the season when it captured a 78-59 victory over Florida Atlantic last Monday night to close out its two-game homestand to open the season. Alabama freshmen Javian Davis (19 points) and Jaden Shackelford (17 points) combined for 36 of the team's total scoring output en route to the victory.
The win over the Owls came off the heels of a heartbreaking 81-80 defeat vs. Penn on Nov. 5 to open the season. The Crimson Tide battled back from a nine-point deficit with less than 10 minutes remaining to regain the lead on a Kira Lewis Jr. three pointer with 15 seconds remaining. However, the Quakers connected on a contested jumper in the lane with 7.5 seconds left to play to seal the win. It marked the Tide's first season-opening home loss since a 61-55 defeat to Cornell on Nov. 14, 2009.
Oats showed fans why his style of play is sure to be entertaining. The Crimson Tide put up 76 shots (27-of-76, 35.5 percent) in the loss to Penn, which is more than any game since it posted 76 shots in a triple overtime loss at LSU on Feb. 13, 2013. Furthermore, the last time an Alabama team put up 76 shots in regulation came on Dec. 4, 2004 when it had 80 field goal attempts in a 79-72 win over Charlotte.
The Nate Oats era has certainly created a buzz surrounding the Alabama men's basketball program. So much so, that the UA students turnout of 1,830 students ranked among the top-three student attendance totals for a November home game in the last 10 years.
Lewis was selected to the coaches 2019-20 Southeastern Conference Preseason First Team, it was announced on Nov. 4. Lewis, who led Alabama a year ago in scoring average (13.5) and assists (2.9) per game on his way to earning all-freshman honors, was voted to the preseason second team by the media, which was announced in mid-October.
This year's Crimson Tide squad welcomes back three starters and seven letterwinners from last season's team. Oats' staff welcomed a total of 10 newcomers, which includes Javian Davis, who redshirted the 2018-19 season.

About Alabama

Three Alabama players average double figures, while five average at least nine points again through its two contests played. Sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. tops the squad with 23.5 points and 6.5 assists per game, which includes a career-best 30-point scoring output in the season-opening contest vs. Penn. Lewis, who was tabbed to the first-team All-SEC preseason team, is shooting 47.2 percent (17-of-36) from the field and 40.0 percent (6-of-15) from beyond the arc entering Friday night's contest.
A pair of first-year players – freshman Jaden Shackelford and redshirt freshman Javian Davis – also average double figures with 16.5 points and 10.5 points per game, respectively. Shackelford tops the team in threes made (7) and attempted (20), while Davis is shooting a team-leading 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from beyond the arc.
Juniors John Petty Jr. and Alex Reese are also contributing on the offensive end. Petty is averaging 9.0 points and a team-leading 7.5 rebounds a game, while Reese is contributing 9.0 points, 5.5 boards and a team-best 2.0 steals per contest.
As a team, the Crimson Tide has outrebounded each of its opponents on the season and owns a +8.5 advantage on the glass (43.5-35.0). Alabama has outscored the opposition by +9.0 points (79.0-70.0) and is shooting 39.3 percent from the field, 29.9 percent from beyond the ar and 72.7 percent (32-of-44) from the foul line.
Alabama finished the 2018-19 season with an 18-16 overall mark and an 8-10 record in Southeastern Conference play, which tied for ninth overall.

About Rhode Island

Rhode Island owns a record of 1-1 on the young season, having defeated LIU 76-65 in its season opener on Nov. 5, followed by a 73-55 loss at then-N0. 7/8 Maryland on Nov. 9. Last season, the Rams finished with an 18-15 overall mark which included wins in six of their final seven games of the year.
Rhode Island seniors Cyril Langevine and Jeff Dowtin were joined by junior Fatts Russell on the 2019-20 Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team. URI and VCU were the only schools to have three players among the 18 named to the preseason team.
Dowtin currently tops Rhode Island in scoring (13.5 ppg) and field goals made (10) and attempted (31), while Russell is the team leader in assists (5.5 apg), minutes (37.5 mpg) and steals (3.0 spg) while ranking second in scoring (11.5 ppg). Meanwhile, Langevine has been an inside force who is averaging a double-double at 11.0 points and 16.0 rebounds a contest.
As a team, the Rams were picked to finish fourth in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll. A big reason why is the team returns 87 percent of its scoring output from a year ago, including all five starters and six of its top seven scorers from last season's squad. Those six players combined for 1,986 of Rhode Island's 2,293 points last season.
Head coach David Cox is in his second season at the helm of the URI program. Despite inheriting a team that lost six seniors heading into the 2018-19 campaign, he guides the Rams to an 18-15 overall mark and was named as one of 12 national finalists for the 2019 Joe B. Hall award, presented annually to the top first year head coach. He enters Friday night's contest with a 19-16 (.543) overall mark.

For all the latest information on the team, follow AlabamaMBB & AlabamaWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. General athletic news can be found @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.

First Road Test For Alabama Men’s Basketball Comes Friday Night at Rhode Island

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Javian Davis

Kira Lewis Jr.

John Petty Jr.

Alex Reese

Jaden Shackelford

University of Alabama Athletics

First Road Test For Alabama Men’s Basketball Comes Friday Night at Rhode Island

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Javian Davis

Kira Lewis Jr.

John Petty Jr.

Alex Reese

Jaden Shackelford

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