Alabama Travels to Arkansas in SEC Basketball Action on Thursday

Alabama will play its third road game in its last four contests as the Tide travels to Fayetteville, Ark., where it will square off against Arkansas on Thursday night at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

THE COACHES  

Alabama head coach Anthony Grant is in his sixth season at the helm of the men’s basketball program. He owns a record of 111-76 (.594) during his time at the Capstone and is 187-101 (.649) now in his in ninth season as a head coach. Head coach Mike Anderson is in his fourth season at Arkansas and owns a record of 72-43 (.626). Now in his 13th season as a head coach, Anderson has a career record of 272-141 (.659).

THE SERIES

Alabama and Arkansas will meet for the 58th time in series history on Thursday, with the Razorbacks owning a slim 29-28 edge in the all-time series. This marks the only meeting between the two teams during the regular season. Alabama owns a record of 6-17 when playing Arkansas in Fayetteville. The Tide has lost six of the last seven games played at Bud Walton Arena, with the lone win coming on Jan. 15, 2011 (79-68).

MORE ABOUT THURSDAY’S MATCH-UP

The contest at Arkansas begins a stretch of three games in six days, as Alabama will play both Auburn (Jan. 24) and Florida (Jan. 27) in Coleman Coliseum ... head coach Anthony Grant has a record of 4-1 when coaching against Mike Anderson, which includes a 1-1 mark in Bud Walton Arena ... both teams are riding two-game losing streaks for the first time this season coming into Thursday’s contest ... two of the top six scoring duos in the SEC will square off Thursday night ... the combination of Bobby Portis (18.3 ppg) and Michael Qualls (16.1 ppg) for Arkansas ranks as the top scoring duo in the league, averaging a combined 34.4 ppg ... Alabama’s Levi Randolph (15.0 ppg) and Ricky Tarrant (12.8 ppg) checks in at No. 6 among the league’s top scoring twosomes.

UP NEXT

Alabama will play in just 48 hours as the Tide will welcome rival Auburn to Coleman Coliseum on Saturday, Jan. 24, at 7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network. The contest is sold out and it will also be a white out in which 10,000 white t-shirts will be given away prior to the contest. It will mark the first of two games played between the two teams, as the Tide plays at Auburn on Feb. 17 (8 p.m. CT on ESPNU).

COACH ANTHONY GRANT ON ARKANSAS

“I’ve been impressed watching Arkansas’ film. Obviously, they’re coming off a tough loss at home. I think you (have to) look at the body of work over the course of the season. They’ve been really good. They’re the highest scoring team in our league. In their building, obviously, style of play wise, is something our guys have to be prepared for. It’ll be a great challenge for us. I think we’ll go in there and try to get the win.”

SCOUTING ALABAMA

• Alabama (12-5, 2-2 SEC) is in the midst of a challenging six-day stretch in which the Tide will play three SEC games. Alabama begins the stretch at Arkansas on Thursday. Following that contest, the Tide will play back-to-back home games against Auburn on Saturday (7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network) and Florida next Tuesday (8 p.m. CT on ESPN).

• Senior guard Levi Randolph leads Alabama in scoring (15.0 ppg), assists (2.7 apg), steals (1.6) and minutes (33.8 mpg) through the Tide’s 17 contests. The Madison, Ala., native currently ranks fifth in the SEC in free throw percentage (.841), sixth in steals and eighth in scoring entering Thursday’s contest.

• Junior guard Ricky Tarrant ranks second on the team with 12.8 ppg, while also leading the squad in threes made (24) and attempted (82). Senior guard Rodney Cooper is third on this year’s squad with 10.6 ppg this season and is tied with Tarrant for the team lead in threes made (24), while ranking second on the squad in 3-point shooting (42.1 percent).

• Sophomore forward Shannon Hale is the fourth on the team in scoring, contributing 7.6 points along with 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists a contest. In addition, sophomore forward Jimmie Taylor leads the team in blocks per game (1.9) and field goal percentage (.635), and is second with 5.0 rebounds per game, while also chipping in with 4.7 points per contest.

• As a team, the Tide is outscoring the opposition by 6.4 points per game (68.9-62.5) through its 17 games. Alabama owns an narrow +0.1 advantage on the glass (32.9-32.8), while also averaging 7.4 steals and 3.8 blocks per game.

ALABAMA-ARKANSAS - SERIES NOTES

• Thursday’s game between Alabama and Arkansas will be the 58th meeting in series history, with the Razorbacks owning a slim 29-28 edge in the all-time series.

• This marks the lone meeting played between the two teams this season. The two teams split a pair of games last season, with each team winning at home.

• Alabama owns a record of 6-17 when playing Arkansas in Fayetteville, including having lost six of the last seven times in Fayetteville, Ark. The lone win during the stretch came on Jan. 15, 2011 when the Tide captured a 79-68 victory over the Razorbacks. That win snapped a six-game losing streak at Arkansas.

• UA head coach Anthony Grant owns a record of 6-3 when his teams have faced Arkansas, including a 1-3 mark at Bud Walton Arena.

• Forty-seven of the 58 games played in the series have come as conference opponents.

• Alabama has won seven of the last nine games  played between the two schools.

• The Crimson Tide is 3-1 in overtime contests against Arkansas. All four overtime games have come within the last 10 seasons.

• The series began during 1947-48 campaign.

NOTES FROM ALABAMA-KENTUCKY GAME

• Alabama and Kentucky met for the 141st time in series history, which stands as UA’s sixth-most common opponent in program lore.

• With the win, Kentucky now owns a 104-37 edge in the all-time series, including wins in nine of the last 11 meetings.

• The Wildcats claimed their first victory in Coleman Coliseum since Jan. 24, 2009.

• It marked the 10th time in program history the Tide has faced the Associated Press’ No. 1-ranked team in the nation. With the loss, the Tide falls to 4-6 when playing the top team in the AP poll.

• Saturday’s contest was the first time since the 2006-07 season that the Tide played the No. 1-ranked team in the nation. The last time it happened came on Feb. 14, 2007 when Alabama lost to the No. 1 Florida, 76-67, in Gainesville, Fla.

• Alabama falls to 2-2 when playing the No. 1 team in the nation on its home floor. The last time the Tide hosted a No. 1 team came on Jan. 8, 1994 when Alabama defeated then-No. 1 Arkansas, 66-64. The only other home win against a top-ranked squad came against then-No. 1 Kentucky, 78-62, on Jan. 23, 1978.

• With the loss, Alabama had its home court winning streak snapped at 14 straight dating back to last season, including having won all ten games this season prior to this afternoon’s loss.

• Jimmie Taylor picked up his fourth foul when the Tide had cut the Kentucky lead to nine points, 39-30, at the 12:47 mark, forcing him to the sideline. With Taylor out of thee game, the Wildcats proceeded to go on a 18-4 run over the next 4:25 to seize control of the contest.

• Alabama attempted just seven free throw attempts, which is the second fewest in a game for the Tide this season and matched an SEC low (had seven free throw attempts vs. Texas A&M). The fewest free throw attempts in a game this season came with five attempts in a win over Appalachian State.

• Alabama shot 56 percent from the field in the second half and was outscored by four points.

WHO’S HOT?

• Over his last three contests, senior guard Rodney Cooper is averaging 11.3 points and 3.7 rebounds a game, while connecting on 54.5 percent from both the field (12-of-22) and beyond the arc (6-of-11) during the stretch.

• In his last three contests, sophomore forward Jimmie Taylor is averaging 7.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game, while connecting on 9-for-9 from the floor. His last miss came against North Florida on Jan. 2.

• Freshman forward Riley Norris is knocking down 65.5 percent (19-of-29) of his shots from the floor and 63.6 percent (7-of-11) of his shots from beyond the arc over the Tide’s last 10 games. During the stretch, Norris is averaging 5.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per contest.

• Over his last seven games, forward Michael Kessens has a pair of double-doubles, while averaging 9.3 points and a team-best 7.1 rebounds per game, while shooting 57.8 percent from the field.

• Junior guard Ricky Tarrant has reached double figures in five of his last seven contests, including an Alabama career-best 24-point scoring output vs. UCLA. Over the stretch, Tarrant is averaging a team-best 13.0 points per game.

ALABAMA UPCOMING MILESTONES TO WATCH

• Senior Levi Randolph (1,068 points) needs 13 points to pass former Tide player Jimmy Hollon (1,080 points) and move into 43rd on the school’s all-time scoring list.

• Randolph needs just six more steals to crack the program’s top-10 list of all-time steals leaders. He enters the Tide’s upcoming contest with 128 steals in his career.

• Senior Rodney Cooper is nearing the 1,000-point milestone. He currently has 925 points and needs 75 points to achieve the feat. In doing so, he would become the 48th player in school history, and second this season, to reach the 1,000-point scoring milestone.

• Sophomore Jimmie Taylor has 71 blocks for his career, just 29 shy of becoming the first Alabama player since JaMychael Green (2009-12) to record 100 blocks for his career.

• Grant is 12 games shy of his 300th career game as a head coach (VCU and Alabama). Grant is also just 13 games from coaching his 200th game at The University of Alabama.

• Alabama has 1,593 wins in program history, The Tide needs seven wins to become the 30th D-I program to reach the 1,600-win plateau.