Is No. 2 Alabama basketball ready to enter its non-conference gauntlet?

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — UNC Asheville didn’t stand a chance, and Arkansas State didn’t have enough firepower to take advantage of an off night from Alabama basketball. Monday night was more of the same, as the No. 2 Crimson Tide survived a second-half cold spell to outlast an overmatched McNeese State team, 72-64.

Boasting arguably the nation’s deepest roster, Alabama was expected to roll to a 3-0 start to the season. The opening part of the Tide’s non-conference slate was more of a tune-up than a test.

That won’t be the case Friday when Alabama (3-0) travels to West Lafayette, Indiana to take on No. 13 Purdue (3-0). Even without two-time Naismith College Player of the Year Award winner Zach Edey, the Boilermakers look like a team that should contend to make a repeat trip to the Final Four. And Purdue will be just the start of a gauntlet of games for Alabama over the next month.

Following Friday’s matchup the Tide will take on Illinois in Birmingham on Nov. 20 before flying to Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival where it will start off against No. 8 Houston before facing No. 24 Rutgers and one of No. 12 Texas A&M, No. 15 Creighton and San Diego State or Oregon.

Next up from there will be a trip to No. 10 North Carolina on Dec. 4 followed by a home matchup against Creighton on Dec. 10. All and all, that could amount to six ranked matchups in seven games for Alabama.

So is Nate Oats’ bunch up for the test? The head coach has liked what he’s seen at times, but he’s still searching for more consistency.

“Our upside’s high like I think we all knew,” Oats said. “We also learned that if we don’t play with a competitive edge we’re not all that special. We’ve got to have a competitive edge, the ball’s got to move. We’ve got to play the way need to play, and we’ll be good.”

Arkansas State and McNeese State might not have been able to pull upsets over Alabama, but the pair of mid-major powers did expose a few of the Tide’s warts.

Arkansas…

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Author : Tide Illustrated

Publish date : 2024-11-12 03:23:00

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