How to Watch: Alabama Men's Basketball vs. Jacksonville State

Crimson Tide aims to remain undefeated against in-state foe at Coleman Coliseum.

The Alabama Crimson Tide has one final tuneup before heading to Portland, Ore., to play in the prestigious Phil Knight Invitational over the Thanksgiving holiday, when it will face some of the premier programs in men's college basketball. 

Friday night, Alabama will host Jacksonville State, which is coming off a 21-11 season under Ray Harper. Guard Demaree King set a school record with 84 3-pointers. 

The Crimson Tide is coming off a 65-55 road victory against South Alabama. Alabama had six players grab at least five rebounds.

Defense has been the early story with this team. It's held all three opponents to under 60 points to start the season, and limited South Alabama to shooting 29.6 percent from the field (21-71),  and 8.7 percent (2-23) from three-point range

"This is a good road win," Nate Oats said after the win on Monday. "It is our first road game of the year and offensively we were not very good for large stretches of the game; way too many turnovers and didn’t hit a shot for a while there. 

Offensive rebounding saved us there, which it has for a good part of the year, particularly in our first game and this game so it was huge for [Noah] Clowney to get eight offensive boards himself and 15 rebounds that was huge. That is why he is in the starting lineup because he plays so hard and rebounds the ball. Offensively we got a lot of work to do, we just are not anywhere close on where we are going to be or need to be but defensively I give our guys a ton of credit and give South [Alabama] a lot of credit.” 

How to Watch Alabama vs Jacksonville State

Who: Jacksonville State (1-1) at Alabama (3-0) 

When: 8 p.m. CT, Friday

Where: Coleman Coliseum

TV: SEC Network. Kevin Fitzgerald (play-by-play) and Jon Sunvold (analyst).

Live Stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial)

Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network with Chris Stewart (play-by-play), Bryan Passink (analyst) and Roger Hoover (sideline) on the call. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.

Series: Alabama leads 13-1. The Gamecocks’ lone victory against the Crimson Tide came in the 1952-53 season-opener with head coach Ray Wedgeworth leading JSU to a 67-64 victory.

Last Meeting: The teams opened the 2020-21 season against each other. Alabama won 81-57. Jaden Shackelford had 18 points  and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. John Petty Jr. had 14 points and Herbert Jones 12 points and 12 rebounds. Jahvon Quinerly made his Crimson Tide debut. The Crimson Tide enjoyed a late 27-7 run, while the Gamecocks missed 50 shots, finishing 27.5 percent from the floor (19 of 69).

Last time out, Alabama: The Crimson Tide didn't shoot well while picking up its first road win of the season, defeating South Alabama on Monday night, 65-55. Alabama dominated the glass, out-rebounding South Alabama 63-40. Eight different players scored for the Crimson Tide led by freshman Brandon Miller with 19 points to go along with eight rebounds, three assists and one block. Jahvon Quinerly made his season debut after suffering a knee injury eight months ago in the NCA Tournament. 

Last time out, Jacksonville State: Lost to University of Illinois-Chicago on Monday, 67-60. JSU struggled shooting just 35-percent on the night, but still had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds. Senior Skyelar Potter had team-high 12 points, followed by junior Amanze Ngumezi (11) and sophomore Cam McDowell (10), who reached double figures for the first time in his career. 

About Alabama:

• Alabama ranks No. 1 in the country in rebounds per game (58.3) and rebound margin (24.7) and No. 2 in defensive rebounds per game (38.6).
• For the first time since 2011-12, Alabama has held three straight opponents to under 60 points to start the season.
• Noah Clowney ranks No. 28 in the country in rebounds per game (10.7).
• Alabama is the only team in the SEC that has four players ranked in the top 10 in rebounds per game in Clowney (No. 1, 10.7), Brandon Miller (No. 3, 9.7), Charles Bediako (No. 7, 8.0) and Mark Sears (No. 9, 7.3).
• Alabama’s newcomers have scored 200 of the Tide’s 235 points this season.
• The Crimson Tide’s Brandon Miller is one of two players in the SEC that is currently averaging a double-double (Trevon Brazile, Arkansas) as Miller is averaging 17.0 ppg and an SEC-best 10.5 rpg.
• 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.
• The Tide is one of seven schools in the country (Arizona, Creighton, Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA) to have a player on the Bob Cousy, Julius Erving and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar watch lists this preseason.
• The 2022-23 Crimson Tide roster features four McDonald’s All-Americans. In addition to Bradley (2022) and Miller (2022), Nimari Burnett (2020) and Quinerly (2019) also earned the national honor. It is the most McDonald’s All-Americans on the same roster in program history.
• Up Next: The Crimson Tide will travel to Portland, Ore. to compete in the Phil Knight Invitational. Alabama will begin the PKI on Nov. 24 against Michigan State.

About Jacksonville State:

• Jacksonville State is coming off its second appearance in the NCAA men’s Division I basketball tournament last season. Both appearances have come under head coach Ray Harper.

• Following a 13-3 conference mark and regular-season league title, JSU’s Ray Harper was named the conference’s Coach of the Year. It becomes Harper’s first D-1 Coach of the Year honor, after a legendary run in Division II and NAIA ranks saw him collect seven conference coach of the year honors and five national coach of the year awards. JSU’s only other coach to receive such honors was Bill Jones as a three-time Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year recipient in 1985, 1990 and 1992.

• Last season JSU reached the 20-win plateau for the fifth time in its Div. I history last season, and for the fourth time under current coach Ray Harper.

• Following the departure of its five starters and others from last year’s ASUN championship team, coach Ray Harper’s squad was predicted to finish third by both the coaches and media in league play this season behind Liberty and Jacksonville in both polls.

• Jax State’s 2022 ASUN regular season title became the first regular-season conference championship JSU has won in its Div. I era since 1995, after winning the OVC Tournament title in 2017. Overall, JSU now claims 20 men’s basketball conference titles going back to the 1962 Alabama Collegiate Conference Tournament championship.

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