Alabama Steps Outside of Conference Play for Final Time When it Hosts Kansas State in Big 12/SEC Challenge

Saturday, January 25

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

5 p.m. CT

Alabama

Kansas State

Alabama Steps Outside of Conference Play for Final Time When it Hosts Kansas State in Big 12/SEC Challenge

1/24/2020 12:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Crimson Tide and Wildcats will tipoff at 5 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN2

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team will step outside of conference play for the final time during the 2019-20 regular season when it welcomes Kansas State to Coleman Coliseum for the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The contest, which will be televised on ESPN2, is set to tipoff at 5 p.m. CT.

It will mark a reunion of sorts as Alabama point guard Kira Lewis Jr. played for the USA U19 team, which was coached by Kansas State's Bruce Weber, which won the gold medal at the FIBA 2019 Men's Basketball U19 World Cup last summer in Greece.

Alabama and Kansas State will play for just the fourth time in series history when the two teams square off in Saturday's Big 12/SEC Challenge. The Crimson Tide owns a 1-2 record over the previous three match-ups and has lost two straight against the Wildcats – both of which came at a neutral site.

This year marks the fourth time Alabama has competed in the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge, which enters its seventh season in 2020. The Tide sports a 2-1 record in the event. Last season, Alabama traveled to Baylor where it fell, 73-68. It marked the only defeat in the Tide's three games. In the two games played in Coleman Coliseum, Alabama defeated then-No. 12 Oklahoma, 80-73, on Jan. 27, 2018, and won over Texas Tech, 76-64 on Nov. 14, 2013 which came in the first year of the event.

Promotions

Free Whataburger honey butter Chicken Biscuits to first 500 students
Halftime performance by crowd favorite Christian and his dog Scooby
Pregame autographs with Alabama Baseball

The Broadcast

Saturday's game will be televised on ESPN2 with Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Andy Kennedy (analyst) on the call.
The radio broadcast can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network with Chris Stewart (play-by-play), Bryan Passink (analyst) and Roger Hoover (sideline) on the call. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.

Notes You Need To Know

Alabama has matched its longest winning streak of the season coming into Saturday's contest. The Crimson Tide has not only won each of the last three contests, defeating then-No. 4 Auburn, Missouri and at Vanderbilt, but it has trailed in the three contests for a total of 3:14.
The Crimson Tide enters Wednesday night's contest ranked No. 3 in the nation in scoring offense at 83.1 points per game and is No. 6 in three-point field goals made per game at 10.5. UA also leads the SEC in threes made (189), threes attempted (529) and three-point field goal percentage (.357).
The Tide has now won four of its last five and nine of its last 12 games following a 77-62 win at Vanderbilt on Wednesday night. The three losses over the 11-game stretch have been by a combined 17 points. Two of the three defeats have come against ranked competition while all three coming on the road. UA fell to then-No. 21 Penn State (lost 73-71 after owning a nine-point second half lead), at Florida in double overtime (lost 104-98 despite holding a 21-point first half lead) and at then-No. 14 Kentucky (lost 76-67, within a possession with two minutes remaining).
With just five more league wins, Alabama (795 SEC wins) will join Kentucky (1,001 SEC wins) as the only two programs in conference history who have reached 800 SEC wins in program history.
Through six SEC games, Alabama leads the league in scoring offense (83.8), scoring margin (+9.0), total rebounding average (43.8), threes made per game (9.3) and defensive rebounds (32.7).
Alabama's John Petty Jr. became just the fifth player in program history to make at least 200 treys for his career (207) and is just 57 treys away from becoming the program's all-time leader in three-pointers made for his career. Moreover, the junior guard scored 23 points at Vanderbilt to give him over 1,000 points in his career. In doing so, he became the 51st UA player in program history and the 32nd to do so in just three years.
Alabama has won three consecutive SEC games by double figures, which marks the first time since the 2011-12 campaign it has achieved that feat.

About Alabama

Four Alabama players average double figures, while six average 8.8 points per game or better through its 18 contests played. Junior John Petty Jr. (16.7 ppg) tops the team and ranks seventh in the SEC in scoring average, while sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. (16.3 ppg) ranks second on the squad and eighth in the league. Combined the duo produces the third-highest combined points by any two players on the same team in the SEC (33.0 ppg).
Lewis leads the SEC and is 11th nationally in minutes per game (37.2), while also leading UA and ranking among the league leaders in scoring, assists (t5th - 4.7 apg) and steals (5th - 1.8 spg). A first-team All-SEC preseason honoree, he also tops the team in field goals made (108) and attempted (250), and is shooting 43.2 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from beyond the arc and 80.3 percent from the charity stripe.
Petty is one of the top three-point shooters in the nation. He ranks second in the SEC in three-point field goal percentage (47.7 percent, 63-of-132) and is third in threes made per game (3.5), while ranking fourth and ninth nationally in the categories, respectively. Additionally, he leads the squad and ranks eighth in the conference in rebounding (7.3 rpg) and also tops UA in threes made and attempted while ranking second in steals (1.1 spg) and minutes (34.1 mpg) per game.
Freshman Jaden Shackelford and junior Herbert Jones also average in double figures at 12.3 and 10.1 ppg, respectively. Shackelford is second on the team in threes attempted, as 115 of 175 field goal attempts – approximately 66 percent – have come from beyond the three-point line. Jones is the team's best defender, leading the team in Blue Collar Points (371.5), Hard Hat Awards (10), charges taken (14), deflections (56) and floor dives (22). Graduate senior Beetle Bolden (8.8 ppg) and junior Alex Reese (9.2 ppg) also contribute on offense.
As a team, the Tide has been outrebounded in just five of its 18 games played this year and owns a +3.1 advantage on the glass (41.9-38.8). The 41.9 rebounds per game leads the SEC and is fifth-best in the nation. Alabama has outscored the opposition by +6.4 points (83.1-76.7) and is shooting 44.0 percent from the field, 35.7 percent from beyond the arc and 71.5 percent from the foul line.
Alabama's pace of play ranks among the national leaders as of Jan. 20. The Crimson Tide averages 78.1 possessions per 40 minutes ranks third-best in the country. Furthermore, UA's average possession length on offense is at 15.0 which ranks as the 10th-fastest in the nation.
In 18 contests this season, the Tide has posted more than 30 shots from beyond the arc 10 times while Alabama has attempted more than 65 shots from the field in nine separate contests and scored 80 or more points a total of 11 times.

About Kansas State

Kansas State comes into Saturday's Big 12/SEC contest having split its previous two contests. Last Saturday, the Wildcats dominated then-No. 12/13 West Virginia, 84-68, in Manhattan, Kansas. Most recently, Kansas State dropped an 81-59 road contest at Kansas this past Tuesday night. It was the seventh loss in the Wildcats' last nine contests coming into the Alabama game.
Kansas State is led on the year by senior forward Xavier Sneed, who tops the team with 14.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. Additionally, Sneed is the team leader in field goals made (82) and attempted (203), threes made (35) and attempted (106) and free throws made (66) and attempted (92). Junior guard Cartier Diarra is the only other Wildcat to average in double digits at 12.9 points per game, while also leading the team in assists (5.2 apg), steals (1.8 spg) and minutes (32.0 mpg).
As a team, Kansas State ranks as one of the top defensive teams in the country under head coach Bruce Weber, holding its first 18 opponents to 63.2 points on 41.5 percent shooting from the field and 32.5 percent from beyond the arc. The Wildcats lead the Big 12 with 8.7 steals while forcing the opposition into an average of 16.5 turnovers per game which ranks third in the conference. K-State also ranks among the nation's top 50 teams in steals per game (31st), turnovers forced (36th) and scoring defense (63.2 - 50th).
K-State has held 25 of its last 52 opponents to 60 points or less with just six eclipsing 70 (five occurring in the last 19 games). The squad has held 94 opponents to 60 points or less in Bruce Weber's tenure, boasting an 85-9 mark in those contests.
Weber is in his eighth year at the helm of the program and owns a 158-99 (.615) while at the helm of the Wildcats' program. For his 22-year coaching career, he owns a record of 471-254 (.650).

Alabama-Kansas State – Series Notes

Alabama and Kansas State will play for just the fourth time in series history when the two teams square off in Saturday's Big 12/SEC Challenge. The Crimson Tide owns a 1-2 record over the previous three match-ups and has lost two straight against the Wildcats – both of which came at a neutral site.
The contest marks the first time the two teams have squared off since Dec. 17, 2011 when UA dropped a 71-58 decision to the Wildcats. The Wildcats and Tide also met on Dec. 19, 2009 when Alabama fell 87-74 at the Coors Classic in Mobile, Ala.
The only Tide victory in the series came in the season-opener for the 1994-95 season (Nov. 16, 1994) when Alabama rolled to a 79-48 victory for its only win in the series.

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