Grant Nelson to get homecoming as Alabama schedules trip to North Dakota

Grant Nelson will get a homecoming game during his final season with Alabama basketball. The Crimson Tide agreed to a two-for-one series with North Dakota that will see Alabama travel to UND on Dec. 18 this coming season. The Tide will then host the Fighting Hawks in both the 2025-26 and 2027-28 campains.

The driving factor in Alabama's decision to agree to the series was to allow Nelson a chance to play in front of his home-state fans. The Devils Lake, N.D. native grew up just an hour and a half away from Betty Englestad Sioux Center where the Tide and Fighting Hawks will square off in December.

After serving as one of the driving forces in Alabama's Final Four run, Nelson elected to take advantage of his fifth year of eligibility and return for a final season. The starting forward spent his first three seasons with North Dakota State before transferring to Alabama last year. Nelson is 5-1 against UND in his career, averaging 19.67 points and 6.17 rebounds over those games.

"When Grant Nelson decided to go back to Alabama, Coach Stevens [ [North Dakota assistant Jeremy Stevens] reached out immediately to see if they had interest in bringing Grant back to his home state for a game,” said UND head men's basketball coach Paul Sather through a university release. “And to Coach [Nate] Oats’ credit, they jumped on it. Not often do you get a potential top-5 ranked team to come to Grand Forks! It should be an awesome environment and opportunity to compete against a great team on our home court."

This year’s game will mark the first time Alabama and North Dakota will meet on the hardwood. The Fighting Hawks are coming off their best season under Sather, finishing with an 18-14 record and a 10-6 mark in Summit League play to place third in the league standings.

The Tide was originally set to play Arizona in Birmingham, Alabama on Dec. 18 to complete a neutral-site series with the Wildcats. However, that game is no longer expected to occur. Instead, Alabama agreed to a series with Illinois that will see the two teams meet in Birmingham on Nov. 15 before facing off in Chicago during the 2025-26 season.