Alabama Crimson Tide news and notes:
Alabama basketball beats Furman 111-93 in first exhibition of preseason
Basketball season has arrived, folks. Nate Oats and his 2026-27 Crimson Tide team took the court on Thursday night to face Furman and rolled to a 111-93 win.
Playing without star guard Aden Holloway, who is serving a suspension through the first two games of the regular season, Alabama's offense didn't skip a beat. Amari Allen led the way with 19 points and 6 assists. Five otheR Tide players were in double-figure scoring: Tarris Bouie (18), Qayden Samuels (17), Brandon Garrison (15), Cole Cloer (14), and London Jemison (10).
It was an impressive overall performance, particularly with the players Alabama was missing, but there's still plenty of work to do.
Alabama will play another exhibition game next Thursday against Ole Miss in the annual "Ballin in Boutwell" event in Birmingham.
Freshman guard Anderson Diaz to miss "about a month" with elbow injury, per Nate Oats
Freshman guard Anderson Diaz missed last night's exhibition game, and in the aftermath Oats revealed that he would miss extended time. The late addition to the Crimson Tide's 2026 recruiting class, Diaz suffered an elbow injury in practice.
The good news is that it won't require surgery, but Diaz is expected to miss about a month, give or take, according to Oats.
Alabama is short on guards with both Holloway and Diaz out, but Allen did a good job running the offense, and Samuels stepped into more of an on-ball role in the exhibition.
Josh Ford is questionable vs. Georgai with a broken arm
Sophomore TE Josh Ford is tough as nails. The Oklahoma State transfer broke his arm during last week's win over Mississippi State. Not only did he return to the game, but he had surgery on Sunday and is now pushing hard to play this Saturday against Georgia.
Ford has been a quintessential piece of the puzzle of the Tide's offense, bringing a toughness and nasty streak that was missing last year. His ability as a blocker has opened things up for the ground game, and he has one highlight-reel touchdown catch to his name, too.
Ford is officially listed as questionable on Alabama's availability report. Kalen DeBoer said earlier in the week that they were optimistic that he would be able to give it a go.
Bryce Young will be the College GameDay guest picker on Saturday
Alabama fans everywhere rejoice! We finally get one of our own as the guest picker on College GameDay, with the show live from Tuscaloosa.
Former Heisman Trophy-winning QB Bryce Young, who is off to his best start as a pro, will be the guest picker on Saturday. The Carolina Panthers are on a bye week this week, so Young is able to make the trip to Tuscaloosa.
After enduring Theo Von last season, and plenty of others with zero affiliation to the University, Young is a nice change of pace.
If you are planning on attending GameDay on Saturday, it has been moved inside to Coleman Coliseum due to Hurricane Isaias.
Alabama soccer suffers first SEC loss in Gainesville
Alabama soccer's perfect mark in SEC action came to an end on Thursday night in Gainesville with Florida toppling the Crimson Tide 1-0.
The match was scoreless for 88 minutes before Florida's Lena Bailey put one into the back of the net in the 89th minute to help the Gators steal the result late.
Wes Hart lamented some missed opportunities in the postgame as Alabama fell to 12-2 overall and 5-1 in SEC play. The Crimson Tide heads back to Tuscaloosa and will face Georgia next Thursday.
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