No. 25/24 Alabama Closes Regular Season Saturday with Early Afternoon Affair at LSU on CBS

Saturday, March 5

Baton Rouge, La.

11 a.m. CT

Alabama

LSU

No. 25/24 Alabama Closes Regular Season Saturday with Early Afternoon Affair at LSU on CBS

3/4/2022 10:02:00 AM | Men's Basketball

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The Crimson Tide and Tigers will tipoff at 11 a.m. CT

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 25/24 Alabama men's basketball team will close out regular-season play Saturday, 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 in Coleman Coliseum.

The Tide enters the matchup having won five-straight games in the series and 10 of the last 13 contests overall against the Tigers. Alabama's last loss to LSU came on Jan. 29, 2020 in a 90-76 defeat to the Tigers in Baton Rouge. Despite that loss, UA has won four of the last six games played inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. In the 80 total games played at LSU, Alabama owns a record of 31-49.

Should the Crimson Tide defeat the Tigers on Saturday, Alabama will secure the No. 5 seed in the upcoming 2022 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, which will be played in Tampa March 9-13. Heading into the final day of the regular season, Alabama is one of six teams that is either 9-8 (Alabama, South Carolina, Florida) or 8-9 (LSU, Texas A&M, Mississippi State). The Tide defeated both the Gamecocks and Gators to own the three-team tie break with a perfect 2-0 record.

The Broadcast

Saturday's game will be available on CBS with Andrew Catalon (play-by-play) and Steve Lappas (analyst) on the call
The radio broadcast can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network with Chris Stewart (play-by-play) and Bryan Passink (analyst) 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

For the season, Alabama is 278-of-889 from beyond the arc and leads the league in threes made and threes attempted for the year. With 22 more makes and 11 more attempts, the 2021-22 team will be just the third in program history to have made at least 300 treys and have 900 attempts for a season. The other two occurrences came under head coach Nate Oats in each of the last two seasons (2019-20 and 2020-21), with last year's squad hold the record (348-of-989).
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.
UA ranks No. 12 in the nation in offensive efficiency by Ken Pomeroy (as of 3/3), 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. 11 in average possession length and No. 13 in adjusted tempo. However, Alabama has dropped to No. 94 in defensive efficiency which ranks 11th in the SEC.
According to the other metric rankings, Alabama is ranked in the following (as of 3/2): No. 20 ESPN.com BPI, No. 22 KenPom.com, No. 23 Sagarin and No. 25 in the NCAA NET rankings. The Tide's "Best" NET wins (Quad 1) include: Gonzaga (No. 1), Houston (No. 3), Baylor (No. 4), Tennessee (No. 9), LSU (No. 16), Arkansas (No. 21) and at Florida (No. 51).
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.
UA ranks No. 12 in the nation in offensive efficiency by Ken Pomeroy (as of 3/3), 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. 11 in average possession length and No. 13 in adjusted tempo.
NET RANKING FACTS: Alabama has a NET Ranking of No. 25 in the nation as of 3/3 which is sixth-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. 4 Baylor and No. 9 Tennessee)... UA is tied for fourth nationally in total number of Quad 1 with 7 (only six teams have more... Alabama is the only team in the nation to have not played a Quad 4 opponent.
UP NEXT: The 2022 Southeastern Conference Tournament awaits the league, which will be played this year in Tampa, Fla., on March 9-13. The Crimson Tide, the defending SEC Tournament Champions, will play its first game in Thursday's second round. Seeding will be determined following Saturday's SEC action.

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 (16.9 ppg), Jahvon Quinerly (14.3 ppg) and Keon Ellis (11.9 ppg). The trio combines to account for 54 percent (43.1 of the 80.2 points per game average), 71 percent of the three-pointers made (198 of 278), 51 percent field goals made (431 of 838) and 51 percent of the total free throws made (233 of 452).
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 (4.1 apg) while also ranking among the team leaders at 8.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest. Bediako has been a strong inside presence, collecting 6.9 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 80.2 points per game which ranks 12th in the natio, while shooting 44.6 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from beyond the arc. Defensively, Alabama is giving up 76.1 points per game while allowing the opposition to shoot 43.5 percent from the floor and 33.0 percent from deep. UA is the top three-point shooting team in the SEC, connecting on 278-of-889 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 1,735-1,079-1 (.616), which includes an 823-636 (.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 LSU

LSU enters the game owning a record of 20-10 overall and is one game behind Alabama in the league standings at 8-9 overall. The Tigers began the year by winning 14 of their first 15 contests (14-1), including three of their first four SEC games, LSU is 5-8 in the 13 games since. Most recently, the Tigers fell for the third time over their last four games, falling at No. 14 Arkansas, 77-76. In fact, LSU's last six defeats have each been by fewer than 10 points.
Sophomore transfer Tari Eason (Cincinnati) has established himself as one of the top transfers in the SEC this season. He leads his team in scoring average at 16.8 ppg, which ranks seventh in the league. He also tops the team in field goal percentage (52.0 percent), field goals made (169) and blocks per game (1.1) while ranking second in rebounding (6.9 rpg).
Joining Eason in double figures are Darius Days (13.3 ppg) and Xavier Pinson (10.4 ppg). Days also tops LSU in rebounding (7.7 rpg) and threes made (62) and attempted (177), while Pinson, a transfer from Missouri, is the team leader in assists (4.6 apg) and free throw percentage (80.7 percent).
As a team, LSU comes into the contest ranked No. 5 in the nation in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com, which is second-best in the SEC (Tennessee is third). The Tigers lead the country in total steals (330) and rank second nationally in steals per game (11.0), while also checking at No. 4 in the nation in three-point field goal percentage defense (27.7 percent), No. 6 in turnovers forced per game (17.8), No. 10 in field goal percentage defense (38.5 percent) and No. 23 in scoring defense (62.4 points allowed per game).
Offensively, the Tigers average 73.0 points per game and are outscoring teams by an average of 10.6 points a game (73.0-62.4). LSU is shooting 43.9 percent from the field, 32.3 percent from beyond the arc and 72.1 percent from the charity stripe.
LSU head coach Will Wade is in his fifth year at the helm of the LSU program. During his time in Baton Rouge, Wade owns a record of 103-50 (.673) and has a career record of 194-95 (.671).

Alabama-LSU Series Notes

Alabama and LSU will meet for the 188th time in a series history that began during the 1915-16 season. The Tide owns a 113-74 lead in the all-time series. The 188 meetings are the second-most Alabama has played against any single opponent, while the 113 wins rank as third-best against any foe.
Earlier this season, Alabama defeated LSU 70-67 back on Jan. 19, 2022 in Coleman Coliseum. The last contest between the Tide and Tigers, which entered the game at 15-2 overall and No. 13 in the AP Poll, featured 15 lead changes and five ties. A box score from that game can be found below.
The Tide enters the matchup having won five-straight games in the series and 10 of the last 13 contests. Alabama's last loss to LSU came on Jan. 29, 2020 in a 90-76 defeat to the Tigers in Baton Rouge. The stretch includes winning four of the last six games played at LSU which includes last year's victory. In the 78 total games played at LSU, Alabama owns a record of 31-49.
A year ago, the Crimson Tide captured three victories over the Tigers, the first time that's been accomplished since the 1986-87 season. In its last trip to the PMAC on Jan. 19, 2021, Alabama toppled LSU 105-75 while setting an SEC record by knocking down 23 three-pointers (23-of-43) en route to the 30-point win. The 105 points scored also matched the school record for points scored in a road game. That was followed by a 78-60 win in Tuscaloosa to complete the regular season series sweep. The two teams once again squared off in the 2021 SEC Tournament championship game a year ago, with the Tide captured a thrilling 80-79 victory in Nashville, Tenn., at Bridgeston Arena.
Alabama and LSU have played in 10 overtime games in series history, including two triple overtime contests (2/10/90 & 2/23/13) and a quadruple overtime contest (2/12/72) – one of only two four-overtime game in school history. Alabama has an impressive 8-2 record when it has played LSU in overtime.
The series began in 1915-16

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