For the first time since the 2013-14 season, the University Alabama men’s basketball team will take part in the annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge in the upcoming season.
Alabama will host the Oklahoma Sooners in Coleman Coliseum on Jan. 27, 2018, according to a release from the SEC Office. Alabama will also participate in next year’s Challenge as of the 10 SEC teams that participate in the 2018 Challenge will be a part of the 2019 event.
Four of the 10 games will be televised on ESPN, four on ESPN2 and two games will air on ESPNU. Start times and network designations will be announced at a later date. The Crimson Tide owns a 1-0 record in the annual challenge, with the only game coming in a 76-64 victory over Texas Tech on Nov. 14, 2013.
The other Big 12/SEC Challenge games for the upcoming season include Baylor at Florida, Georgia at Kansas State, Texas Tech at South Carolina, TCU at Vanderbilt, Oklahoma State at Arkansas, Kentucky at West Virginia, Ole Miss at Texas, Tennessee at Iowa State and Texas A&M at Kansas.
The addition of the Oklahoma game adds to an already strong non-conference schedule that includes Memphis, Texas (in Birmingham) and a tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y., that will include Minnesota and Brigham Young. Alabama is still in negotiations for at least one more non-league game — expected to be against a potential Preseason Top 10 opponent — but that game has not been finalized.
Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil@tidesports.com or 205-722-0225.
