Alabama Basketball Tonight: Watch, listen and a score prediction

Alabama Basketball sits at 4-0, with a 104-62 blasting of Jacksonville State in the Crimson Tide’s last game. Was the one-sided score misleading? Not in the least. The Crimson Tide made 21 three-point shots while shooting 45.7% from outside the arc.

The Crimson Tide’s dominance on the glass was almost enough for Alabama to double the boards pulled down by the Gamecocks, with a final margin of 49-25, including 19 offensive rebounds for the Tide.

Super freshman, Brandon Miller led the way for the Tide with 28 points, eight rebounds, three assists and a block. Miller’s performance earned him SEC Freshman of the Week.

After four games, Alabama is the No. 1 rebounding team in Division One basketball. Among SEC teams, the Crimson Tide has the top scoring margin, producing almost 85 points per game and holding opponents to under 58 points.

The stats are impressive but they were generated against opponents not as good as the Tide will face in the Phil Knight Invitational tournament. the Tide opens the tourney Thanksgiving night against perennial powerhouse, Michigan State.

The Spartans are 3-1 this season, having beaten Northern Arizona, Kentucky by 86-77 in double overtime and Villanova, 73-71. Michigan State’s loss was 64-63 against Gonzaga.

The Spartans are pretty much old-school basketball, with sound offensive play, not overly dependent on threes, tough defense and strong rebounding. Alabama presents a quite different approach, particularly now that Jahvon Quinerly can play with no minutes restriction.

The game will be a test for both teams. Unlike the Spartans, the Crimson Tide will get a first true measuring stick for this season’s potential.

A sub-plot to the game is it is a student vs. teacher contest. As a high school coach, Nate Oats participated in Michigan State player camps for years. Oats often credits Tom Izzo for the knowledge he shared, long before Oats made the move to college coaching.

Alabama Basketball vs. Michigan State Info

Tonight’s contest is at 9:30 PM CST. The game will be broadcast by ESPN, with Roxy Bernstein and Bill Walton as the television team. Roger Hoover and Bryan Passink will have the radio call on the Crimson Tide Sports Network (Sirius/XM 134/201). The game will also be streamed through the ESPN App and on fuboTV.

Except for Dom Welch, Alabama should have a full roster available. Darius Miles will be available, though his minutes are expected to be limited.

Alabama Basketball Game Prediction

Many college basketball experts have the Crimson Tide as a slight favorite. I hope they are correct, though my read is the game is a tossup. Early season predictions between two good teams are always hard. Michigan State is much more of a known commodity than the Crimson Tide. My guess is Alabama sneaks by, but has the potential to lose by double-digits.

Alabama 71 –  Michigan State 70

Complete Alabama Basketball Game Notes are available here.

Depending on the outcome, Alabama will play on Friday against the winner or the loser of UConn vs. Oregon.