Alabama basketball rolled to a win in its first game of the 2024-25 season. The No. 2 Crimson Tide (1-0) took down UNC Asheville 110-54 and showed off its reloaded roster that helped Alabama earn the second-highest ranking in the preseason AP Poll.

Aside from Houston Mallette and Naas Cunningham, who are both taking redshirts this season and the injured Chris Youngblood, all of Alabama’s scholarship players played at least 15 minutes in the Tide’s blowout victory. Alabama’s star guard Mark Sears led the way with 20 points on just eight shots, while coach Nate Oats praised his team’s effort for 40 minutes in the season opener.

Alabama will face off against Arkansas State and a familiar coach for Tide fans in its second game of the season. Former Alabama assistant Bryan Hodgson is now in his second season leading the Red Wolves. Hodgson squared off against Oats last season with Hodgson’s predecessor getting the better of his up-and-coming former assistant 89-65.

As Alabama looks to sustain its strong start, Oats is well aware of what Arkansas State is capable of should the Crimson Tide overlook his opponent. Alabama will look to play another complete game, while Friday night should provide another opportunity for Oats to tinker with a few different lineups with his deep Crimson Tide roster.

Here’s everything you need to know about Alabama’s matchup against Arkansas State.

Who: No. 2 Alabama (1-0) vs. Arkansas State (1-0)

When: 7 p.m. CT, Friday, Nov. 7

Where: Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Watch: SEC Network+ (play-by-play: Roger Hoover, analyst: Richard Hendrix)

Listen: Crimson Tide Sports Network | SIRIUS/XM 134/201 (play-by-play: Chris Stewart, analyst: Bryan Passink, engineer: Tom Stipe)

Mark Sears: 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, graduate

Stats: 20.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.0 apg, 75.0% FG, 75.0% 3-pt

Labaron Philon: 6-foot-4, 177 pounds, freshman

Stats: 10.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 9.0 apg, 57.1% FG, 100.0% FT

Derrion Reid: 6-foot-8, 220 pounds, freshman

Stats: 9.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.0 apg, 60.0% FG, 100.0% 3-pt

Jarin Stevenson: 6-foot-11, 215 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 10.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, 50.0% FG, 66.7% FT

Clifford Omoruyi: 6-foot-11, 250 pounds, graduate

Stats: 16.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.0 apg, 100.0% FG, 100.0% 3-pt

Terrance Ford Jr.: 6-foot-1, 177 pounds, redshirt sophomore

2023-24 stats: 7.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 5.0 apg, 42.9% FG, 33.3% 3-pt

Derrian Ford: 6-foot-3, 195 pounds, junior

2023-24 stats: 15.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.0 apg, 50.0% FG, 25.0% 3-pt

Taryn Todd: 6-foot-4, 177 pounds, senior

2023-24 stats: 9.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 4.0 apg, 30.8% FG, 20.0% 3-pt

Kobe Julien: 6-foot-6, 217 pounds, redshirt senior

2023-24 stats: 14.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, 37.5% FG, 16.7% 3-pt

Rashaud Marshall: 6-foot-8, 225 pounds, sophomore

2023-24 stats: 4.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 2.0 bpg, 50.0% FG

Oats told reporters Thursday that he doesn’t “want a game where we play bad and still get a win.” Alabama can’t afford to overlook any opponent, particularly one led by a coach familiar with the Tide’s playstyle and emulated it on his own team.

Following Arkansas State’s loss to Alabama in December 2023, the Red Wolves went on to their first 20-win season since 2016-17. Hodgson helped guide Arkansas State to the Sun Belt Conference tournament championship game where it lost to James Madison.

This offseason, Hodgson also emulated Oats’ skill on the recruiting trail. Arkansas State added freshman Josh Hill, who was the No. 150 player in the Class of 2024 and the highest recruit in program history. Hodgson also brought in forward Rashaud Marshall from Ole Miss and Kobe Julien, a sixth-year player who averaged 17.3 points per game at Lousiana last season, from the transfer portal.

Though Arkansas State appears headed in the right direction, Alabama should be able to cruise to another win if it plays at the same level it did against Asheville on Monday. But Oats and other SEC head coaches are well aware that a Hodgson-led Red Wolves team can spring an upset if its opponent isn’t careful. When scheduling the game, Oats said Hodgson told him other SEC teams refused to add Arkansas State to its schedule.

For a second straight season, Oats has the opportunity to play against one of the members of his growing coaching tree. The expansion of the transfer portal allows teams like Arkansas State to land former high-major players and even the occasional high-end recruit. That creates a good opportunity for Alabama to test itself against a few quality players early in the season. After practicing against itself over the last few months, Friday’s game will also be a good test of how well Alabama measures against a team willing to match its fast-paced style.

“Hopefully we know how to guard it fairly well,” Oats said. “Their personnel’s obviously different. They’ve got some pretty tough players from different spots. We’ve got to know their personnel but schematic-wise we should know what they’re doing and I would assume they’re gonna run with us that’s how they play. They put up a lot of points, similar to us putting up points, in most of their games I think Bryan’s done a great job.”

According to KenPom, Alabama is already up to No. 23 in adjusted defensive efficiency after its first game. That number will be heavily scrutinized all season as the Tide looks to improve from some of its woeful marks in 2023-24.

Alabama appears to have already shown improvement on that end, but Oats is still looking for some things to be cleaned up. The Alabama coach hasn’t noticed anything glaring on the defensive end so far but wants his side to continue being aggressive without fouling. The Crimson Tide was more disciplined with just 12 team fouls against UNC Asheville but Oats wants to see a continued discipline after the Tide got into a foul fest during its exhibition game against Memphis.

“We’ve got to be able to be tough and physical without fouling — we fouled too much in the Memphis game — and I think we’ve got to do it every possession no matter what the score is,” Oats said. “I think you just establish that mindset and that’s kind of what we’re working at.”

Oats also wants to see the Tide improve on the defensive glass. Alabama gave up 23 offensive rebounds against Memphis and just under half of Asheville’s 29 rebounds Monday night came on the offensive end. Hodgson emphasizes offensive rebounding at Arkansas State, making Friday’s contest a good opportunity to test the Tide’s tenacity on the defensive boards.

“Bryan coached that when he was here with us,” Oats said. “He was kind of in charge of offensive rebounding. He’s the head coach so he’s paying attention to that and those guys go. They go really hard. So we’re gonna have to do a better job boxing out, keeping them off the glass. That would probably be the biggest area of concern I have against Arkansas State.”

Alabama went with a starting five of Sears, Philon, Reid, Stevenson and Omoruyi against Asheville. Veterans Grant Nelson and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. came off the bench as both players were on minutes restrictions after suffering injuries in the offseason.

While all of Alabama’s available players got plenty of action Saturday, Oats said he plans to continue changing up the starting group at the beginning of the season. Alabama’s depth gives Oats plenty of lineup combinations to tinker with, while he also stressed the importance of mixing older and younger players in the same rotation.

“I don’t think it’s the smartest thing to play all of your veteran guys right away at the beginning and have all your young guys come in,” Oats said. “It’ll be good to have a mixture of both. I think the veteran guys maybe help the younger guys. The younger guys [provide] energy. I mean, shoot, Labaron had nine assists. Sometimes you put him out there with some veteran shooters and whatnot he’s done a good job finding them. I think we’re gonna mix it up a little bit. I’m still not quite sure who’s gonna start this game. But everybody will get an opportunity to play. All the scholarship guys, I would anticipate they would all play, try to see who earns more minutes from there.”

The Crimson Tide’s loaded roster also allows players like Nelson and Wrightsell to ease their way back into action after missing time without being thrust into their larger roles that will likely come as the season goes on. Oats said both players — along with freshman forward Aiden Sherrell — will be on minutes restrictions again Friday but are already knocking the rust off after their first performances.

“Trelly and Grant weren’t what they were at the end of last year because they just haven’t practiced as much,” Oats said. “I think you'll see them click a lot better Friday night. I think they need to get a game rep under their belt and they have and I think they’ll look a little bit better.”