The Alabama men’s basketball team is on a two-game losing streak. The Crimson Tide have dropped the last two games to No. 1 Purdue and No. 12 Creighton. Tonight, Nate Oats’ squad will take on the No. 4-ranked Arizona Wildcats inside Footprint Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.
It will be another difficult test for a struggling, Alabama team. This game will be just as tough as the past two. The Wildcats are out-scoring their opponents 416-242 in the paint in the past nine games. The two areas that Alabama has struggled significantly in are defending the paint and getting in foul trouble.
Arizona could look to exploit those two areas that Alabama has struggled to fix. Not to mention, the Wildcats lead the country in rebound margin (+17.9 per game) and scoring margin (30.1). Those are two significant factors that could impact the game on Wednesday night.
However, I think the deciding factor will be which team can make more threes. The Wildcats have shot 38.9% from distance through the first nine games. The Crimson Tide have shot 39.1% from beyond the arc in their first 10 games. Alabama has not lost three consecutive games since 2021.
That said, I believe Alabama gets back in the win column. The Crimson Tide are desperate for a win and need to create some sort of momentum with conference play steadily approaching. Therefore, I am going with Alabama pulling off a narrow upset. I like Alabama to win by a final score of 82-78.