The Red Storm are scheduling like a team expected to be ranked in the preseason top five and are building up their strongest non-conference slate in decades. First reported by Jon Rothstein, St. John’s is finalizing a matchup against Alabama on Saturday, November 8. The matchup is expected to be a part of a home-and-home series that begins in New York this season, with a return game set to be played in Birmingham, Alabama in the 2026-27 season.
The Crimson Tide will become the third SEC opponent on the St. John’s non-conference schedule for the 2025-26 season, all of whom advanced to the Sweet Sixteen or farther in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Ole Miss will visit Madison Square Garden on Saturday, December 6, and Kentucky is set to face the Red Storm on Saturday, December 20, as part of the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta.
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Led by seventh-year head coach Nate Oats, Alabama is seeking to make their fourth-straight trip to the tournament’s second weekend. However, the Crimson Tide will have to manage the departures of consensus first-team All-American Mark Sears and talented stretch-five center Grant Nelson, who led the program to its first Final Four in 2024.
Fifth-year guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (11.5 points), junior guard Aden Holloway (11.4 points), and sophomore forward Aiden Sherrell (3.4 points) are expected to step up in Sears and Nelson’s stead, while transfers like seven-footer Noah Williamson from Bucknell, rangy Taylor Bol Bowen from Florida State, and former five-star recruit Jalil Bethea from Miami (FL) are expected to become major contributors.
Alabama has previously faced St. John’s four times, last meeting in the second round of the 1982 NCAA Tournament when the Crimson Tide narrowly defeated the Chris Mullin-led Johnnies by a score of 69-68 inside Nassau Coliseum.
St. John’s is also playing in three games in the Players’ Era Festival, an early-season tournament in Las Vegas that is expected to have a jam-packed 18-team field featuring programs like Auburn, Baylor, Gonzaga, Kansas, and Tennessee.
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