Nate Oats Books High-Profile Matchup Against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden

The Alabama men's basketball team prides itself on strong non-conference scheduling. Last season, Alabama played the toughest non-conference schedule in the country.

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The 2025-26 men's basketball season will be no different, with head coach Nate Oats scheduling one of the toughest opponents possible: Rick Pitino and the St. John's Red Storm.

Not only will Alabama have to play one of the toughest opponents in the country, St. John's was recently ranked as the No. 2 team in the country by Gary Parrish of CBS Sports, but Alabama will have to take on the Red Storm in the biggest venue in sports: Madison Square Garden.

A return trip to Birmingham is expected during the 2026-27 men's basketball season.

In Gary Parrish's rankings, Alabama was No. 24.

The game is tentatively set for November 8 at Madison Square Garden. It'll be a big day for sporting events in Tuscaloosa, with Alabama football set to host the LSU Tigers in Bryant-Denny Stadium that day.

No times for either matchup have been announced yet.

It's the first time Alabama will play St. John's since Wimp Sanderson led the Tide to a victory over the Red Storm in the NCAA Tournament, and the first time Alabama will play in Madison Square Garden since the NIT tip-off in 2013, according to Mike Rodak.

Alabama's current non-conference schedule looks like this:

-At St. John’s (Madison Square Garden)
- Vs.Purdue
-Vs. Arizona (Birmingham)
-At Illinois (Chicago)
- Vs. North Dakota
-Vs. Yale
-Players Era Festival (Las Vegas)
-SEC/ACC Challenge

According to Yea Alabama, Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide are also trying to finalize a game with USF for this season. Former Alabama basketball assistant coach Bryan Hodgson is the current head coach at USF, leading to the desire to match up with the Bulls this season.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.