No. 25/24 Alabama Hosts Texas A&M in Regular Season Home Finale

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 25/24 Alabama men's basketball team will host the final home game of the season Wednesday night when it welcomes Texas A&M to Coleman Coliseum in the lone meeting between the teams this year. The contest is slated for a 6 p.m. CT tipoff and will be televised on SEC Network.

This will be the first meeting between the two squads since Feb. 19, 2020 when the Aggies walked away with a 74-68 road win over the Crimson Tide. The teams were set to play last season, however, between an ice storm in Texas postponing the originally scheduled contest and the pandemic make-up games at the end of the season which prevented the two squads from squaring off in 2020-21.

The Crimson Tide owns a 12-9 edge in the all-time series with the Aggies, however, Texas A&M has won three consecutive and four of the last five games in the series. That includes two-straight wins in Coleman Coliseum, at the Aggies defeated the Tide 81-80 on Jan. 12, 2019 and 74-68 in the last meeting in 2020. The last time Alabama defeated Texas A&M in Tuscaloosa came on Dec. 30, 2017 (defeated then-No. 5 A&M, 79-57).

The Broadcast

Wednesday's game will be available on SEC Network with Mike Morgan (play-by-play) and Jon Sundvold (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 (courtside) on the call, while Tom Stipe (engineer) is turning the dials. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.

Notes You Need To Know

The Tide's schedule ranks No. 1 in the nation in every major rating system including: Average Opponent NET Ranking, KenPom.com, ESPN BPI, Sagarin Rankings and RealTimeRPI.
The Crimson Tide remained in the national rankings, checking in at No. 25 in this week's Associated Press Top-25 rankings, while climbing a spot to No. 24 in the Ferris Mowers USA Today Coaches Poll. It marks the 12th out of 17 weeks that Alabama has been ranked in either or both of the major college basketball top-25 polls, reaching as high as No. 6/8 in week six.
Regardless of what happens in its final two regular season contests, Alabama is guaranteed to play in Thursday's second round of the 2022 SEC Tournament, which will be held in Tampa Bay March 9-13. The Tide currently holds the No. 5 seed, however, can fall anywhere from its current position to a No. 10 seed, depending on results over the final two contests.
UA ranks No. 9 in the nation in offensive efficiency by Ken Pomeroy (as of 2/28), which would stand as the program's second-most efficient offense over the last 20 years of KenPom.com's end-of-year ranking (finished No. 9 in 2005). Pomeroy also ranks the Tide No. 13 in average possession length and No. 15 in adjusted tempo.
NET RANKING FACTS: Alabama has a NET Ranking of No. 22 in the nation as of 2/28 which is fifth-best in the SEC... UA is the only team in the nation to have defeated four teams among the NET Top 10 (No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 3 Houston, No. 5 Baylor and No. 8 Tennessee)... UA is tied for the fourth nationally in total number of Quad 1 with 8 (only three teams have more: Baylor 11, Kansas 10, Iowa State 9)... Alabama is the only team in the nation to have not played a Quad 4 opponent.
UA ranks No. 9 in the nation in offensive efficiency by Ken Pomeroy (as of 2/28), which would stand as the program's second-most efficient offense over the last 20 years of KenPom.com's end-of-year ranking (finished No. 9 in 2005). Pomeroy also ranks the Tide No. 13 in average possession length, No. 15 in adjusted tempo and No. 82 in defensive efficiency.
According to the other metric rankings, Alabama is ranked in the following (as of 2/28): No. 19 ESPN.com BPI, No. 20 Sagarin, No. 21 KenPom.com and No. 22 in the NCAA NET rankings. The Tide's "Best" NET wins (Quad 1) include: Gonzaga (No. 1), Houston (No. 4), Baylor (No. 6), Tennessee (No. 9), LSU (No. 17), Arkansas (No. 23) and at Florida (No. 55).
The Crimson Tide owns a 5-4 record vs. teams ranked in the AP Top 25 this season. The five ranked wins is tied for second-most in the nation (Texas Tech), trailing Marquette (6) by one and stands the second-most in a single season, one shy of matching the 2017-18 squad that finished with six top-25 wins.
UP NEXT: Alabama will close out regular-season play Saturday, March 5, when it travels to Baton Rouge, La., to take on the LSU Tigers. The contest, which will tipoff at 11 a.m. CT on CBS, will be the second of two meetings between the teams with the Crimson Tide taking a 70-67 win over the then-No. 13/14 Tigers, 70-67, in Coleman Coliseum.

About Alabama

Alabama is in its 109th season of basketball in 2021-22. The Tide's first season of hoops came in 1912-13. There was no season in 1943-44 due to World War II.
The Crimson Tide is led by three players who average double figures in Jaden Shackelford (17.0 ppg), Jahvon Quinerly (14.3 ppg) and Keon Ellis (11.9 ppg). The trio combines to account for 54 percent (43.2 of the 80.5 points per game average), 68 percent of the three-pointers made (190 of 270), 51 percent field goals made (417 of 812) and 51 percent of the total free throws made (226 of 441).
The Tide's youth has also shined this season. A pair of freshmen in guard JD Davison and center Charles Bediako have both been impressive during their rookie campaign. Davison, a consensus five star and McDonald's All-American, ranks second on the team in assists (4.0 apg) while also ranking among the team leaders at 8.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per contest. Bediako has been a strong inside presence, collecting 6.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and a team-leading 1.7 blocks a game, which ranks third in the SEC.
As a team, the Crimson Tide is averaging 80.5 points per game which ranks 10th in the natio, while shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 31.2 percent from beyond the arc. Defensively, Alabama is giving up 75.7 points per game while allowing the opposition to shoot 43.1 percent from the floor and 32.8 percent from deep. UA is the top three-point shooting team in the SEC, connecting on 270-of-865 treys this season for an average of 9.3 threes made per game – all of which leads the league.
Alabama was picked to finish second in the league in voting by a select panel of both SEC and national media members. Kentucky was the preseason favorite to win this year's regular season title, followed by the Tide, Arkansas, Tennessee and Auburn to round out the top five. Both Quinerly and Shackelford were named to the SEC Preseason First Team.
The Tide holds an all-time record of 1,735-1,077-1 (.616), which includes an 823-634 (.565) record in SEC play. By capturing its 800th SEC win, Alabama joined Kentucky as the only two teams in conference history to reach the milestone. UA also became the third team in the SEC and 34th team in NCAA history to reach 1,700 program wins. Only Kentucky and Arkansas have more wins than the Crimson Tide.

About Texas A&M

Texas A&M comes into Wednesday's contest sporting an 18-11 overall mark and a 7-9 record in league play. The Aggies began the year by winning 15 of their first 17 games, including a 4-0 start to the SEC season. However, A&M dropped eight consecutive games to league opponents before responding by winning three of the last four games heading into Wednesday night's contest at Alabama. Most recently, the Aggies earned the third road win in conference play by capturing a 76-66 win at Ole Miss Saturday.
Graduate transfer Quenton Jackson (UCF) leads three players in scoring at 14.0 points per game, while also topping A&M in steals (1.6 spg), field goals made (129) and attempted (277), threes made (35) and free throws made (112), attempted (132) and percentage (84.8 percent). He is in the running for the SEC's Sixth Man of the Year, having come off the bench in 25 of the team's 29 games this year.
Duke transfer Henry Coleman III (10.4 ppg) and Virginia Tech transfer Tyrece Radford (10.0 ppg) all add double-digit scoring in the offensive attack. The duo also ranks as the team's top two in rebounding (6.1 and 5.6 rebounds per contest, respectively) and field goal percentage (55.4 percent and 49.8 percent, respectively.
As a team, Texas A&M ranks fifth in the nation in steals per game entering the contest, averaging 10.4 per contest. In fact, six different Aggies currently average over a steal a game. Additionally, A&M ranks second in the league in eighth nationally in turnovers forced at 17.6 per contest.
Offensively, the Aggies are averaging 72.8 points per game while shooting 44.0 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from beyond the arc. The 76 points they scored against the Rebels were the second-most scored in an SEC road game this season while the 91 points scored in the previous game, a 91-77 win over Georgia, were the most scored in SEC play against any team A&M has faced this year.
Defensively, the Aggies are allowing opponents to score 65.1 points and shoot 44.3 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. Largely behind the turnovers and steals forced per game, Texas A&M leads the SEC and ranks 13th in the nation in turnover margin (4.4).
Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams is in his third year at the helm of the Aggies program and owns a record of 40-35 (.533). Now in his 15th season as a head coach, Williams owns a record of 293-190 (.607).

Alabama-Texas A&M Series Notes

The contest between Alabama and Texas A&M on Wednesday night will mark the 22nd meeting in series history and the 13th time the two teams will meet as SEC rivals.
Alabama owns a 12-9 edge in the previous 21 games, however, Texas A&M has won four of the last five games including three straight over the Crimson Tide entering this year's lone regular season meeting.
This will be the first meeting between the two teams since Feb. 19, 2020 when the Aggies walked away with a 74-68 road win over the Crimson Tide. The teams were set to play last season, however, between an ice storm in Texas postponing the originally-scheduled contest and the pandemic make-up games at the end of the season prevented the two squads from squaring off in 2020-21.
The Aggies have won two consecutive games in Tuscaloosa as they captured a dramatic 81-80 victory on a game-winning three at the buzzer on Jan. 12, 2019. Texas A&M owns an all-time record of 3-6 in nine games played inside Coleman Coliseum.
In the last meeting, UA led for the first 17 minutes of the second half before allowing A&M to use a late 12-0 run that resulted in a 74-68 defeat. The Crimson Tide led by as many as nine points in the second half and was clinging to a six-point lead, 62-56, with 4:16 left. However, the Aggies went on a 12-0 run over the next 3:18 to take a 68-62 lead with 58 seconds remaining and held on to steal the victory. A box score from that contest can be found below.
Fourteen of the 21 contests in the series have been decided by single digits, including one overtime contest (Dec. 13, 2008). In fact, six of the last nine games played between the two teams have been decided by a single possession.
The first game in the series was played in 1958-59.

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