Alabama Basketball, coming off a big win 10 days ago, and not playing at home for 33 days, returns to Tuscaloosa to face Creighton. Read more for a full Alabama vs Creighton prediction and preview.
General Information
Teams: Alabama (7-2) and Creighton (7-3)
Tip time: 8:30 pm
Watch: SEC Network
Listen: Tide 100.9
Latest on Creighton basketball:
Creighton is starting to play its best ball so far this season, coming off a win over previously ranked number 1 Kansas in the last week. The Bluejays will be faced with losing second-leading scorer Pop Isaacs, who is out for the rest of the season with an injury. In its last game, Creighton defeated UNLV 83-65, where guard Jamiya Neal dropped 19 points and nearly a triple-double with nine rebounds and nine assists. Although losing Isaacs is brutal, Steven Ashworth returned to action on Dec. 4 and is the engine for this team running the show at point guard and will need to step-up big time in this game.
Ryan Kalkbrenner leads the team in scoring averaging, 17.3 PPG and is averaging 8.4 RPG. Creighton will need Kalkbrenner to have a big-time game to be able to get the win on the road, along with shooters like James McAndrew and Mason Miller, who have struggled to start the season from the outside to hit some shots to open up the floor for Kalkbrenner and Ashworth.
Latest on Alabama basketball:
Alabama, is heading into its seventh straight game against a high-major opponent in the non-conference slate, coming off a dominant 94-79 victory against North Carolina where Mark Sears was able to get back on track dropping 20 points along with Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway dropped 15 each. The Tide now will have to look into finding that fifth guy to be etched into the starting lineup, with Latrell Wrightsell now being out for the season. It will look for guys like Houston Mallette, Jarin Stevenson, Mo Dioubate, Holloway, and Chris Youngblood. Youngblood will be making his first appearance of the season and is a transfer from USF, who was the Co-Player of the year in the AAC.
“I would anticipate him getting some minutes,” said Oats on Youngblood.
Alabama will have to continue to get production out of its big man Clifford Omoruyi, who will be tasked with going up against one of the best bigs in the country in Ryan Kalkbrenner, who dominated the Tide last season with 19 points and eight rebounds. Omoruyi, who has struggled to stay out of foul trouble, will need to stay on the floor and defend without fouling.
As a team, Alabama is putting up 89.2 PPG and shooting 33.1% from three. By the analytics, Alabama’s defensive efficiency continues to move up and is now just inside the top 35 and hopes to keep the Tide rising. The leading scorer for the Tide is Sears at 16.4 PPG and the leading rebounder is Grant Nelson, averaging 7.9 RPG.