Alabama basketball learns 2025 Players Era Festival opponents, draws wild start time
The first college basketball event driven solely by NIL launched last November with Alabama one of the initial eight teams to play across a week-long stay in Sin City over Thanksgiving Week.
The plan was always for Alabama to return to Vegas in 2025, and on Tuesday the Crimson Tide learned two opponents they'll face in this year's Players Era Festival. Alabama will play Gonzaga on Nov. 24 and UNLV on Nov. 25. Dylan Burkhardt of UMhoops.com first reported the news, later confirmed by multiple outlets.
The Crimson Tide will play a third game later in the week in Las Vegas against a team yet to be determined before returning to Tuscaloosa to continue its nonconference schedule.
Moreover, Alabama's scheduled start time for its matchup against UNLV on Nov. 25 is something of a wild one. The Tide and Rebels will tip off at 11 p.m. CT from Vegas. Alabama faces Gonzaga on Nov. 24 at 8:30 p.m. CT.
A year ago, Alabama picked up a memorable 85-80 overtime win over Houston, plus a 95-90 victory over Rutgers in the Players Era Festival. The Tide lost the tournament's title game to Oregon, 83-81.
The Players Era Festival has expanded from eight to 18 teams for 2025. Auburn, Tennessee, Kansas, Michigan and St. John's are among 11 new teams participating in this year's tournament.
Adding Gonzaga and Rutgers to Alabama's already expansive nonconference schedule will make an even stronger case that Nate Oats has the single most difficult schedule in the nation in 2025-26. The Crimson Tide will also face St. John's, Purdue, Illinois, Arizona and Clemson in separate nonconference games before the SEC portion of the schedule tips off in January.
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