Alabama
Arkansas
No. 16/17 Men's Basketball Hosts Arkansas on Senior Day
3/8/2024 2:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide honors its six seniors in Saturday’s regular season finale
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 16/17 Alabama men's basketball team will play its final game of the regular season against Arkansas Saturday at 11 a.m. CT. The Crimson Tide will honor its six seniors Aaron Estrada, Grant Nelson, Nick Pringle, Max Scharnowski, Mark Sears and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. immediately following the contest.
The Tide (20-10, 12-5 SEC) enters the game in a tie for second place in the conference standings, looking to clinch a double-bye for next week's SEC Tournament. With a win Saturday, Alabama would also earn its 13th SEC win, marking the first time since 1986-87 that a UA team has earned back-to-back seasons with 13 league wins.
The Broadcast
Saturday's game is set for an 11 a.m. CT tipoff and will be aired on ESPN with Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Jimmy Dykes (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
- Since head coach Nate Oats arrived at Alabama in 2019-20, the Crimson Tide has won a league-best 61 SEC contests
- The Crimson Tide is one win away from back-to-back seasons with 13 SEC wins for the first time since 1986-87
- Alabama has scored 100 points in nine games this season which is the most by an SEC school since Kentucky's 1995-96 team (nine games)
- Per KenPom, Alabama has the highest offensive efficiency rating (127.5), the second highest rating since 1999 (Wisconsin, 129)
- Mark Sears was named 1 of 5 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, which annually recognizes the top point guard in Division I
- Sears has scored 632 points this season, tied for No. 4 (Collin Sexton, 2018) in UA history for most points scored in a single season and 116 points from the program record set by Reggie King (747 points) in 1979
- Sears is one of two Division I players and the only Power 5 player that has 630 points, 120 rebounds, 120 assists and 70 three-pointers this season
- Sears is one of seven players in Division I and one of two guards that is scoring 20 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field
- Sears has now scored 20-or-more points in 20 games this season, the most by an Alabama player since Reggie King's school record 23 games in 1978-79
- Sears ranks No. 1 in the SEC in scoring (21.1 ppg), No. 5 in field goal percentage (50.9) and No. 8 in assists (4.0 apg)
- Alabama is one of three schools (Purdue and Wright State) in the country that has two players on its current roster that has scored at least 1,800 points throughout their career in Sears (1,953 points) and Estrada (1,861 points)
About Arkansas
- Arkansas is 1-6 this season against AP Top-25 opponents (Defeated No.7 Duke on Nov. 29)
- In each of the last four games, Arkansas has scored over 80 points
- Under head coach Eric Musselman is 115-12 when his teams score at least 80 points
- The Razorbacks average 6.0 blocks per game, which ranks fifth in Division I and No. 2 in the SEC
- Arkansas is converting 19.8 free throws per contest, which ranks No. 2 in Division I
- The Razorbacks rank No. 13 in Division I in bench points (30.0 ppg)
- Over the last four games, Khalif Battle is averaging 35.3 points per game and is attempting 15.8 free throws per contest
- Tramon Mark is averaging 17.1 points per game, which ranks No. 6 in the SEC and No. 7 in the conference in field goal percentage (49.4)
- Trevon Brazile ranks No. 12 in the conference, averaging 6.0 rebounds per game
- Alabama has made an SEC-best 339 three-pointers this season while Arkansas has converted the fewest (178) in the conference
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