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USA Today
08-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Alabama basketball to add marquee opponent, venue to 2025 nonconference schedule: report
Alabama basketball to add marquee opponent, venue to 2025 nonconference schedule: report Alabama basketball will reportedly head to The World's Most Famous Arena in 2025. According to a report Thursday from college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, Nate Oats' Crimson Tide are finalizing an agreement with St. John's and legendary coach Rick Pitino to play at Madison Square Garden in New York. It will mark the first time an Alabama team has played at 'The Mecca' since 2013. The game will reportedly take place on November 8, with St. John's expected to play Alabama in the 2026-27 season at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. St. John's joins an already expansive list of nonconference opponents Alabama is set to face in the 2025-26 season. Oats already has games scheduled against the Illinois Fighting Illini in Chicago, North Dakota and Yale at Coleman Coliseum, and the Arizona Wildcats in Birmingham. The Crimson Tide will also make another trip to Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival and face an ACC school in the annual SEC-ACC Challenge. St. John's went 31-5 overall last season and won the both the Big East Tournament and Big East regular season championship. They were a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and were bounced in a second-round upset by John Calipari's Arkansas Razorbacks. The Johnnies are a popular team in many way-too-early rankings ahead of 2025-26. Fox Sports recently ranked St. John's No. 2 in its early top 25, while ESPN's Jeff Borzello had them at No. 3 in his new rankings on Monday. Alabama finished 28-9 last season and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, falling 85-65 to Duke in the East Region final in Newark. The Crimson Tide were ranked No. 6 in the final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, while St. John's was ranked No. 10. The meeting between Alabama and St. John's will be the first between the two programs in over 40 years. They last met in the 1982 NCAA Tournament at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island with two legendary coaches squaring off. Wimp Sanderson's Crimson Tide defeated Lou Carnesecca's team, 69-68. All-time, Alabama and St. John's have met four times on the hardwood dating back to 1955. The head-to-head series is split 2-2. Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Oklahoma at LSU women's basketball: Storylines, how to watch as Flau'jae Johnson faces Raegan Beers
Two of the SEC's best and most balanced offenses get a national stage Thursday night, with Jennie Baranczyk's Oklahoma Sooners cast as road underdogs against Kim Mulkey and the LSU Tigers. The Tigers are at +3000 (seventh in the odds) to win the National Championship, while the Sooners are at +10000 (13th). Both teams avenged gnarly losses to South Carolina by winning on Sunday, albeit against inferior opponents. This game carries weight in a competitive and crowded conference. Venue: Pete Maravich Assembly Center — Baton Rouge, La. Time: 7 p.m. ET Thursday TV: ESPN2 Streaming: Fubo (try for free) Watching in-person? Get tickets on StubHub. LSU's big three can ball with the best of them. Junior Flau'jae Johnson is fifth in the SEC with 19.7 points per game. Senior Aneesah Morrow is a menace, averaging 14 rebounds (best in the nation) and three stocks (steals + blocks). Sophomore Mikaylah Williams averages 15.9 points per game and shoots 90.2 percent from the foul line. But this electric offense has been temporarily grounded. The Tigers had topped 80 points in 12 of 13 contests before back-to-back struggles last week. They shot just 31.9 percent in Sunday's win over Texas A&M, while Johnson went 0-for-5 from behind the arc. They were an especially disagreeable 29.9 percent in the South Carolina loss. LSU could use a get-right game. The same goes for these Sooners. Oklahoma achieved its highest AP ranking (eighth) since 2008-09 but has since gone 4-3, with a loss to rival Texas and a heartbreaker at Mississippi State. If the Sooners are to pull off the upset, they will need 2024 All-American Raegan Beers at her best. She's an interior presence but has actually made 4 of 7 treys since the New Year. More confidence on the long ball would really open up this offense. Off the strength of Beers, Oklahoma is third in the country in total rebounding and first in the SEC in 2-point percentage. The Sooners also have the conference's highest assist rate, thanks to clever senior guard Payton Verhulst and fifth-year bench spark Nevaeh Tot. The main problem has been their negative turnover differential. From senior writer : 'The South Carolina game was the first genuine measuring stick for LSU this season after a non-conference slate that had just one top-25 opponent (then-No. 20 NC State in the SEC-ACC Challenge). Holding South Carolina to 66 points is certainly an impressive feat — the only lower-scoring game for the Gamecocks this season was their loss to UCLA. However, the Tigers couldn't find enough of an offensive spark and cohesion to match.' Oklahoma: G — Danielle Robinson G — Chelsea Dungee F — Stacey Dales F — Abi Olajuwon C — Courtney Paris LSU: G — Temeka Johnson G — Marie Ferdinand-Harris F — Seimone Augustus F — Angel Reese C — Sylvia Fowles This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Oklahoma Sooners, LSU Lady Tigers, Women's College Basketball, Sports Betting 2025 The Athletic Media Company
New York Times
30-01-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Oklahoma at LSU women's basketball: Storylines, how to watch as Flau'jae Johnson faces Raegan Beers
Two of the SEC's best and most balanced offenses get a national stage Thursday night, with Jennie Baranczyk's Oklahoma Sooners cast as road underdogs against Kim Mulkey and the LSU Tigers. The Tigers are at +3000 (seventh in the odds) to win the National Championship, while the Sooners are at +10000 (13th). Both teams avenged gnarly losses to South Carolina by winning on Sunday, albeit against inferior opponents. This game carries weight in a competitive and crowded conference. Advertisement LSU's big three can ball with the best of them. Junior Flau'jae Johnson is fifth in the SEC with 19.7 points per game. Senior Aneesah Morrow is a menace, averaging 14 rebounds (best in the nation) and three stocks (steals + blocks). Sophomore Mikaylah Williams averages 15.9 points per game and shoots 90.2 percent from the foul line. But this electric offense has been temporarily grounded. The Tigers had topped 80 points in 12 of 13 contests before back-to-back struggles last week. They shot just 31.9 percent in Sunday's win over Texas A&M, while Johnson went 0-for-5 from behind the arc. They were an especially disagreeable 29.9 percent in the South Carolina loss. LSU could use a get-right game. The same goes for these Sooners. Oklahoma achieved its highest AP ranking (eighth) since 2008-09 but has since gone 4-3, with a loss to rival Texas and a heartbreaker at Mississippi State. If the Sooners are to pull off the upset, they will need 2024 All-American Raegan Beers at her best. She's an interior presence but has actually made 4 of 7 treys since the New Year. More confidence on the long ball would really open up this offense. Off the strength of Beers, Oklahoma is third in the country in total rebounding and first in the SEC in 2-point percentage. The Sooners also have the conference's highest assist rate, thanks to clever senior guard Payton Verhulst and fifth-year bench spark Nevaeh Tot. The main problem has been their negative turnover differential. From senior writer Chantel Jennings: 'The South Carolina game was the first genuine measuring stick for LSU this season after a non-conference slate that had just one top-25 opponent (then-No. 20 NC State in the SEC-ACC Challenge). Holding South Carolina to 66 points is certainly an impressive feat — the only lower-scoring game for the Gamecocks this season was their loss to UCLA. However, the Tigers couldn't find enough of an offensive spark and cohesion to match.' Oklahoma: LSU: (Photo of Flau'jae Johnson: Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images)
