Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News

Alabama Schedules Rematch With Big Ten Powerhouse

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Nazario Pangallo | Last updated Apr 16, 2025 3:38 PM ET

In college athletics, there are two conferences stand above the rest, the Big Ten and the SEC. This past season, the SEC had the greatest college basketball season in the conference's history with a record 14 teams making the NCAA Tournament.

That culminated with Florida knocking off Big 12 foe Houston in the national title.

With both conferences stacked, it makes sense for teams to play each other in the non-conference. Alabama sure seems to believe in that sentiment as it was announced on Wednesday that the Crimson Tide will be traveling to Chicago on November 19 to face Illinois inside the United Center.

The contest is a rematch from last November when Alabama defeated the Fighting Illini 100-87 in Birmingham.

This isn't the only non-conference date the Crimson Tide has with a Big Ten foe. On November 13, just six days before the matchup with Illinois, Alabama will welcome the Purdue Boilermakers to Coleman Coliseum.

Outside of the Big Ten contests, the Crimson Tide has a December 13 matchup with Arizona being announced last week. Other high-quality games include three games at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, and a contest with an ACC school in the SEC/ACC matchup.

During the 2024-25 season, Alabama finished the season with the No. 1 ranked strength of schedule and No. 9 non-conference strength of schedule according to KenPom. Still, the Crimson Tide finished 11-2 in the non-conference in the regular season while concluding the season 28-9.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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