No. 18 Alabama Faces No. 1 North Carolina in the Phil Knight Invitational Third Place Game

PORTLAND, Ore. – Alabama will have its third straight top-20 matchup to close out the week at the Phil Knight Invitational when the Tide face the No. 1 team in the country, North Carolina. The Tide and the Tar Heels meet for the first time since 2019, when North Carolina won (76-67) at the Battle 4 Atlantis.

The Broadcast

Sunday's game will be aired on ESPN with Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) and Bill Walton (analyst) on the call.

The radio broadcast can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network with 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

The Crimson Tide are facing the No. 1 team during the non-conference season for the second time in program history and first since Jan. 28, 1983 (Alabama defeated No. 1 UCLA, 70-67).
The last time Alabama faced the No. 1 team in the nation during the regular season was Jan. 31, 2015 (lost to No. 1 Kentucky 55-70).
The last time Alabama defeated the No. 1 team in the nation was March 20, 2004 (defeated No. 1 Stanford, 70-67, in the NCAA Tournament).
Alabama is 3-7 all-time against the No. 1 team in the country.
The Crimson Tide's last win over the No. 1 team in the country during the regular season was Jan. 8, 1994 (defeated No. 1 Arkansas, 66-64).
Brandon Miller is averaging 20.5 points per game, the most by any freshman in the country and No. 26 overall.
Miller is averaging 3.67 three-pointers per game, which ranks No. 9 in the country.
Alabama ranks No. 1 in the country in rebounds per game (49.8) and No. 2 in rebound margin (16.2) and No. 3 in offensive rebounds per game (16.3).
Alabama's newcomers have scored 398 of the Tide's 487 points this season.
Charles Bediako ranks No. 66 in the country averaging 3.0 offensive rebounds per game.
Alabama has made 58 three-pointers this season, the most under Nate Oats in the first six games of the season.
The Tide are making 9.7 three-pointers per game, which ranks No. 43 in Division I.
Alabama welcomes the highest ranked recruiting class in program history, including McDonald's High School All-Americans Jaden Bradley and Brandon Miller, along with four-start prospects Noah Clowney and Rylan Griffen.

About North Carolina

This was the 10th time the Tar Heels have been ranked No. 1 to begin a season (1977-78, 1981-82, 1983-84, 1986-87, 1993-94, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2011-12, 2015-16 and 2022-23).
UNC's 10 preseason No. 1 rankings are the most all-time, breaking a tie with Duke. UCLA is third with eight, Kentucky is fourth with six and Arizona, Indiana, Kansas and Michigan are tied with three.
Carolina returns four starters from last season's team that went 29-10 overall, 15-5 in the ACC, was the No. 3 seed in the ACC Tournament, No. 8 seed in the East Regional in the NCAA Tournament, won the NCAA East Regional and advanced to the national championship game.
UNC returns 71.2% of the scoring from a year ago in addition to 58.5% of its rebounding, 82.3% of its assists and 58.5% of its three- point field goals.
Carolina is one of three teams (with Duke and Kentucky) with three players on the John R. Wooden Award preseason top 50. Armando Bacot, RJ Davis and Caleb Love are among the preseason players to watch.
Head coach Hubert Davis's Tar Heels were picked to finish No. 1 in the ACC at the conference's preseason media day in Charlotte.
Bacot was one of five players named to the As- sociated Press's 2022-23 Preseason All-America team. Bacot is joined on the AP team by Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky), Drew Timme (Gonzaga), Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana) and Marcus Sasser (Houston).

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