Alabama Opens 2019 Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis With No. 4/5 North Carolina on Wednesday Afternoon

Wednesday, November 27

Paradise Island, Bahamas

1:30 p.m. CT

Alabama

North Carolina

Alabama Opens 2019 Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis With No. 4/5 North Carolina on Wednesday Afternoon

11/26/2019 11:07:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Game Notes Listen Live Live Stats Watch Live Battle 4 Atlantis Preview

The Crimson Tide and Tar Heels will tipoff at 1:30 p.m. CT (2:30 p.m. ET) on ESPN

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Alabama will open play at the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis on Wednesday afternoon when it takes on No. 4/5 North Carolina in the first round of the three-day tournament. The Crimson Tide and Tar Heels will tip off at 1:30 p.m. CT (2:30 p.m. ET) and the contest will be televised on ESPN.

The winner of the UA and UNC game will advance to the winner's side of the bracket to take on the winner of Michigan and Iowa State, with the losers of those games meeting in the consolation bracket. The second round will be played Thursday with the final round of action coming on Friday.

Alabama and North Carolina will play for the 12th time in series history when the two teams meet on Wednesday afternoon. However, it will be the first meeting between the teams since the Tar Heels captured a 64-55 win in the second round of the 1992 NCAA Tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio. UNC owns a 7-4 advantage in the all-time series.

The 12-game tournament, which is in its ninth season, is known to be one of the most challenging early-season men's college basketball tournaments. Eight top-tier teams make up this year's impressive field. In addition to Alabama and North Carolina, other teams in this year's event include: Gonzaga, Iowa State, Michigan, Oregon, Seton Hall and Southern Miss.

The Broadcast

All three contests will be aired on the ESPN family of networks. Wednesday's contest will air on ESPN with Jon Sciambi (play-by-play) and Jimmy Dykes (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

A Southeastern Conference team has never won the Battle 4 Atlantis event. Texas A&M had the league's best finish in the event, when the Aggies finished runner-up in 2015. Other SEC top finishes include Tennessee's third-place result in 2017 and Missouri had a fourth-place finish in 2012.
The last time Alabama defeated a team ranked in the top five of the AP Poll came on Dec. 30, 2017 when UA toppled then-No. 5 Texas A&M 79-57 in Coleman Coliseum. The last time Alabama captured a victory over a top-five opponent away from Coleman Coliseum came on Feb. 21, 2004, when the Tide captured a 77-73 win at Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss.
According to the latest KenPom.com stats (as of 11/21), Alabama ranks second in the nation in adjusted tempo (78.9) and is 13th nationally in average possession length (14.4). Last season, head coach Nate Oats' Buffalo team finished 11th in the nation in adjusted tempo (73.6) and ranked fourth in average possession length (14.4).
Despite being undersized, Alabama has been a dominant rebounding team in its four games. Over the stretch to start the year, the Crimson Tide has recorded at least 40 rebounds in each game and is average 44.0 rebounds per contest. Entering the Battle 4 Atlantis, Alabama boasts a +10.5 advantage on the glass (44.0-33.5). That number ranks fourth in the Southeastern Conference and 29th in the nation (as of 11/21).
Sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. was selected to the coaches 2019-20 SEC Preseason First Team and is proving early on why he deserved the honor. Lewis leads the team in scoring (21.5 ppg), assists (5.0 apg), steals (1.8 spg) and three-point field goal percentage (40.0 percent). He ranks second in the SEC and 29th in the nation in scoring and leads the league and ranks 10th nationally in minutes per game.
Alabama enters the game against No. 5/4 North Carolina ranked among the Southeastern Conference leaders in several categories through the early part of the season. The Crimson Tide currently ranks among the top five in the league in the following categories: Defensive rebounds (32.0 - t1st), three-point field goals made per game (10.0 - 2nd), rebounding offense (44.0 - 3rd), rebounding margin (+10.5 - 4th), blocked shots (5.3 - t4th), scoring offense (79.5 - 5th) and free throw percentage (.736 - 5th).

About Alabama

Four Alabama players average double figures, while six average at least 7.0 points per game through its four contests played. Sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. tops the squad and ranks second in the SEC with 21.5 points per game. He leads UA with 5.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game, while his 38.3 minutes per contest tops the league. Lewis, who was tabbed to the first-team All-SEC preseason team, is shooting 51.7 percent (31-of-60) from the field and a team-leading 40.0 percent (8-of-20) from beyond the arc entering Wednesday's contest.
A pair of first-year players – freshman Jaden Shackelford and redshirt freshman Javian Davis – also average double figures with 15.8 points and 10.5 points per game, respectively. Shackelford tops the team in threes made (11) and attempted (34), while Davis is shooting 53.8 percent (14-of-26) from the floor and 77.8 percent (14-of-18) from the charity stripe.
Junior Herbert Jones is also averaging double figures with 10.0 ppg following his 17-point effort at Rhode Island (11/15). Jones, who saw only 10 minutes of action in the season-opener vs. Penn due to suffering an elbow injury which also sidelined him for the Florida Atlantic contest, saw his first significant action of the season when he started and played 22 minutes against the Rams.
Juniors John Petty Jr. and Alex Reese are also contributing on the offensive end. Petty is averaging 9.8 points and a team-leading 7.3 rebounds a game, which ranks eighth in the SEC. Meanwhile, Reese is contributing 7.0 points, 4.8 boards per contest.
As a team, the Crimson Tide has outrebounded all four of its opponents on the season and owns a +10.5 advantage on the glass (44.0-33.5). Alabama has outscored the opposition by +3.0 points (79.5-76.5) and is shooting 43.7 percent from the field, 29.1 percent from beyond the arc and 73.6 percent from the foul line.

About North Carolina

North Carolina enters the contest against Alabama with a perfect 4-0 record, including a 1-0 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Most recently, the Tar Heels captured a 75-61 victory over Elon on Nov. 20 – the team's fourth straight double-digit victory to start the season.
North Carolina enters the tournament with an impressive +13.7 scoring margin (76.0-62.3) and a +19.5 advantage on the boards (51.3-31.8). In fact, Carolina ranks second in the nation in rebounding margin, second nationally in defensive rebounds per game (36.25) and third in the country in total rebounds per game (51.3). In addition to its rebounding advantage, the Tar Heels are shooting 42.6 percent from the field, 32.9 percent from beyond the arc and 62.1 percent from the charity stripe.
Four UNC players average eight or more rebounds per game entering its game against Alabama, each of which are the top four scorers on this year's team. Leading the way is freshman standout Cole Anthony, who tops the team with 22.8 points, 4.5 assists, 1.8 steals and 35.1 minutes per game, while also adding 8.0 rebounds a contest. Junior forward Garrison Brooks is second on the team in scoring (12.0 ppg) and rebounding (8.3 rpg), while freshman Armando Bacot (10.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg) and graduate Justin Pierce (9.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg) share the team lead in rebounding while ranking third and fourth on the team, respectively in scoring average.
Hall of Fame head coach Roy Williams is now in his 17th season at the helm of the North Carolina program, having won 456 of his 589 games he has coached (456-133, .774). Over his 32 years as a collegiate head coach, Williams has amassed a record of 874-234 (.789) which includes 15 seasons as the head coach at Kansas University.

ENJOYING ADULTHOOD

As a freshman last season, guard Kira Lewis Jr. was the youngest active player in the country. Now as an 18-year-old sophomore, the Crimson Tide point guard's second season could not have gotten off to a better start.
Over the summer, Lewis was a member of the USA Men's Basketball U19 World Cup Team that won a gold medal and went undefeated.
After earning SEC All-Freshman honors a year ago, the Meridianville, Ala., native was voted to the preseason All-SEC first team by the coaches, while the media selected him to the league's second team to start the year.
Through four games on the season, Lewis is leading the SEC in minutes per game (38.3) and ranks second in the conference in scoring average (21.5). He also tops the Crimson Tide assists (5.0 apg), steals (1.8 spg), three-point shooting (8-of-20, 40.0 percent) and free throw percentage (16-of-19, 84.2 percent).

INCREASING THE PACE OF PLAY

Head coach Nate Oats has brought an entertaining style of play to the Capstone. That much became evident in the season-opening contest vs. Penn when the Crimson Tide put up 76 shots (27-of-76, 35.5 percent), 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.
Through four games this season, Alabama ranks among the top teams in the nation when it comes to the pace of play. According to KenPom.com's latest numbers (as of Nov. 21), the Tide ranks second in the nation in Adjusted Tempo (78.8), while the average offensive possession length is 14.4, good for 11th nationally.

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