The Alabama men’s basketball team will take on Purdue on Saturday afternoon. The Crimson Tide find themselves in a contrasting environment as they will play the Boilermakers in Toronto, Canada. The last time that Alabama played in Canada was for a preseason tour several years ago.
Alabama comes into the game with a 6-2 record. The Crimson Tide suffered two losses in as many weeks to Ohio State and Clemson. As for Purdue, they will come into the game with an 8-1 record. Their lone loss of the season came against a conference opponent in the Northwestern Wildcats.
The Boilermakers are a high-scoring team that plays excellent on defense as well. This could very well be Alabama’s most challenging matchup of the season. Matt Painter’s squad is led by 7-footer Zach Edey who averages 23.7 points per game and 11.2 rebounds per game.
Another interesting statistic to note is that Purdue shoots 49.1% from the field as a team. In comparison, Alabama shoots 49.9% from the field as a team. Therefore, I look for this to be a high-scoring matchup between these two programs.
With the status of Alabama forward Grant Nelson currently unknown, there is reason for doubt. Nelson is currently the team’s third-leading scorer and leads the team with 6.2 rebounds per game.
Therefore, I am going to take Purdue 82, Alabama 75 in the Hall of Fame Series game.