Alabama
Morehead State
Alabama Men’s Basketball Opens the 2023-24 Season at Coleman Coliseum Against Morehead State
11/3/2023 1:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide faces Morehead State who was picked No. 1 in the OVC Preseason Poll
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 24/24 Alabama men's basketball team will begin the 2023-24 season against Morehead State Monday night. The Eagles are the first of four games the Crimson Tide will host at Coleman Coliseum to start the campaign.
Alabama is coming off a program-record 31 wins last season, highlighted by an SEC regular season championship and tournament title including a trip to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. The Tide welcomes 10 newcomers to its roster, including the No. 5 overall transfer class and the No. 10 class over that includes five freshmen that are rated as four-star prospects.
The Broadcast
Monday's game is set for an 7 p.m. CT tipoff and will be aired on the SEC Network+ with Roger Hoover (play-by-play) and Richard Hendrix (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
- Alabama has a 15-game winning streak at home, which ranks as the eighth longest streak in the country
- In his first four years at Alabama, head coach Oats has won 92 games which is the most by a coach in his first four years at Alabama
- In the last three seasons, Alabama has won a league-best 76 games overall and 41 SEC contests
- Alabama returns three players (Rylan Griffen, Nick Pringle and Mark Sears) from last year's 31-win team
- Senior transfer Grant Nelson earned First Team All-SEC Preseason honors becoming the first UA player to do so since 2021 (Jahvon Quinerly and Jaden Shackelford)
- After being named to the 2023 Second Team All-SEC, Mark Sears enters his second season with the Tide and was tabbed Second Team All-SEC Preseason honors
- Alabama captured both the SEC regular season and tournament championships in the same year in two of the last three years, the first time that's happened in program history
- Alabama has won a program-record 31 wins this season, surpassing the 2001-02 team for most wins in a single season (27)
- Oats became the first coach in UA history to win multiple SEC Regular Season and Tournament titles for the first time in program history
About Morehead State
- Morehead State is one of six teams that Alabama will face during its non-conference schedule that was picked to finish No. 1 in their conference's preseason poll.
- Last season, the Eagles won the Ohio Valley Conference Regular Season Championship and topped Clemson in the First Round of the NIT.
- The Eagles' received 20 of the 22 first-place votes in the OVC Preseason Poll
- Morehead State's Mark Freeman and Drew Thelwell were selected to the 2023-24 Preseason All-OVC Team
- Freeman is the reigning OVC Player of the Year after averaging 15.0 points and 3.7 assists per game
- Morehead State is led by Preston Spradlin who is in his seventh season as the Eagles' head coach and has led Morehead State to three consecutive 20-win seasons
- Spradlin guided the program to its first outright OVC regular-season title in 39 years last season
