Alabama basketball will tip off the first-ever edition of the Players Era Festival tournament against No. 6 Houston on Monday. The No. 9 Crimson Tide is joined by seven other teams in the NIL-driven showcase in Las Vegas, Nevada this week.

In addition to having the opportunity to play against several top opponents — a prospect Alabama coach Nate Oats will never pass up — the Players Era Festival also offers NIL and financial education opportunities for participating teams. According to the tournament’s website, it is set to pledge $9 Million in NIL to players for their participation in activities that are separate from the tournament itself. When speaking to reporters from Las Vegas on Monday, Oats said his players were already busy taking advantage of the opportunities

“I think it’s good,” Oats said. “I think there’s ways to help these players make some money off their name, image and likeness, and I think the tournament operators here have been in that space and done a really good job promoting all the players that are here and helping bring some recognition to them and financially able to compensate them for it.”

As Alabama players enjoy of the tournament’s opportunities off the court, they will be strongly tested on it. The Tide will play two Power Five opponents in the next two days in Houston and Rutgers. Alabama will then play a third game against a to-be-determined opponent based on the results of its first two games.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Players Era Festival, Alabama’s opponents and how to watch the Tide in action in Las Vegas this week.

The eight participating teams are split up into two groups of four. Alabama’s group also contains Houston, Notre Dame and Rutgers while No. 21 Creighton, Oregon, San Diego State and No. 20 Texas A&M make up the other group of four.

Each team will play two games — one Tuesday and one Wednesday — in a partial round-robin format. Both groups will then be seeded based on the teams’ two-game results and play a championship-style schedule on Saturday against a team with the same seed from the other group. The tiebreakers for seeding after head-to-head record are total point differential of both games played in the group, with a cap of plus or minus 20 per game, total points scored and total points allowed.

Who: No. 9 Alabama (4-1) vs. No. 6 Houston (3-1)

When: 7 p.m. CT, Tuesday, Nov. 26

Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada

Watch: TBS (Play-By-Play: Brian Anderson, Analyst: Grant Hill, Sideline: Allie LaForce)

Listen: Crimson Tide Sports Network | SIRIUS/XM 134/201 (Play-By-Play: Roger Hoover, Analyst: Bryan Passink)

The Tide and Cougars have produced a pair of classics in recent seasons, facing off in 2022 and 2021 with Alabama coming out on top in both matchups. Tuesday night’s game will be a top-10 matchup as the Cougars head to Las Vegas as the No. 6 team in the nation and the highest-ranked team on KenPom.

Houston has a tenacious defense, which KenPom ranks No. 2 in the country. Aside from its 74-69 loss to Auburn, Houston has not allowed a team to score more than 45 points in a game so far this season. The Cougars also rank No. 348 in adjusted tempo, pitting their slow and physical style against Alabama’s up-tempo system.

“We’ve got to run when we can,” Oats said. “The biggest issue is can we [get a] defensive rebound? They’re sending everybody to the offensive glass, so if we can get defensive rebounds, we’ll be able to run on them. As much as we can we’ll try to run off misses, we’ll run off makes. Our defense has to be great, our defensive rebounding’s got to be great, and then we’ve just got to take care of the ball on offense.”

Offensively, Houston is led by guards Emanuel Sharp and L.J. Cryer. Sharp is averaging 11.8 points per game while shooting a scorching 73.3% from 3-point range on just under four attempts per game. Cryer is one of college basketball’s premier veteran guards. He is in his second season with Houston after spending three years at Baylor.

Houston also boasts forward J'Wan Roberts, who played against Alabama in 2022. Roberts is averaging 10.3 points and ranks second on the team in rebounds with 5.5 per game. Houston guards Terrance Arceneaux (9.5 ppg) and Ramon Walker Jr. (3.8 ppg) as well as forward Ja'Vier Francis (5.7 ppg) also featured for Houston in the Tide’s 71-65 win two seasons ago. Oats praised Houston coach Kelvin Sampson for his leadership of the program and Alabama will have to be at its best, particularly in how it establishes a rhythm on offense in order to pull off a resumé-boosting win Tuesday.

“I think that if you attack Houston correctly, the ball moves,” Oats said. “You can’t be selfish and beat these guys, they’re gonna put two on the ball, take your best guards out of it by blitzing them. The ball’s got to move. If the ball moves, typically you’ve got multiple guys scoring because it finds different guys. If you play the way you need to play to beat these guys, the ball’s gonna move and you’re gonna have multiple guys scoring the ball pretty well.”

Who: No. 9 Alabama (4-1) vs. Rutgers (4-1)

When: 9 p.m. CT, Wednesday, Nov. 27

Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada

Watch: TBS

Listen: Crimson Tide Sports Network | SIRIUS/XM 134/201 (Play-By-Play: Roger Hoover, Analyst: Bryan Passink)

Alabama’s game against Rutgers on Wednesday will likely be watched by NBA scouts across the league. Both teams have potential first-round picks on their roster and were ranked in the top three in Rivals' recruiting team rankings for the Class of 2024.

Rutgers is limping into the tournament after dropping out of the top 25 following a road defeat to Kennesaw State on Sunday. The Scarlet Knights were shocked by an Owls team led by former Alabama assistant Antoine Pettway. Oats praised his former co-worker as he looked ahead to his own team's matchup with Rutgers.

“Super happy for Pettway,” Oats said. “He’s got a signature win. I think the first win in Kennesaw's history over a top-25 team. So a big congrats to Antoine, his staff and his players. I hope they didn’t kind of wake up the sleeping bear, if you will, with Rutgers because they’re a super-talented team. I’m sure they got a wake-up call a little bit.”

As Alabama looks to double-down on Rutgers' misery, the Tide will have to contend with two of college basketball’s top freshmen. Rutgers is led by guards Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. The pair were both ranked among the top three players in the Class of 2024 and are both averaging over 19 points per game to start the season. ESPN’s latest NBA Mock Draft has both players being selected in the top five of this summer’s draft.

Harper and Bailey’s talent makes Wednesday night’s game a potential glimpse into the future of the NBA as Alabama has its own crop of elite freshmen. The Tide also has a pair of former five-star recruits in Derrion Reid and Aiden Sherrell while Labaron Philon has been one of college basketball’s breakout newcomers, averaging 12.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists this season and has also begun flying up NBA draft boards.

The Tide will face one of Creighton, Oregon, San Diego State or Texas A&M on Saturday. Alabama’s third opponent on the championship day will depend on its results from the two games. If the Tide finishes at the top of its group, it will face the winner of the other group. If it finishes second, it will face the other group’s second-place team in the third-place game and so on.

Here is the full championship day schedule (all games Saturday):

7th Place Game − 12 p.m. CST on TruTV

5th Place Game − 2:30 p.m. CST on TruTV

3rd Place Game − 6 p.m. CST on TNT

Championship − 8:30 p.m. CST on TNT

The Players Era Festival was granted a waiver by the NCAA to allow for a potential game between two conference opponents that does not count toward their conference record. This means Alabama can potentially get a look at Texas A&M in a non-conference setting should the two teams matchup. The Crimson Tide defeated the Aggies 100-75 during SEC play last season. Texas A&M is off to a 4-1 start in 2024-25.

Alabama could also face off against Creighton, which would also serve as an undercard to an already scheduled matchup as the two sides will play just 15 days later on Dec. 14 in Tuscaloosa. Creighton is 4-1 heading into the tournament and suffered a loss to Nebraska in its most recent game.

The Tide could also have a chance for a revenge game against San Diego State. The Aztecs ended Alabama’s NCAA Tournament run as the No. 1 overall seed in 2023 with a 71-64 victory in the Sweet 16. That game is the only time the two teams have met. San Diego State is 2-1 with its only loss coming to No. 3 Gonzaga.

Alabama last played Oregon during the ​​Emerald Coast Classic last season. The Tide ran out 99-91 winners over the Ducks and has a 2-3 record against Oregon all-time. Oregon carries an unblemished 5-0 record into the Players Era Festival.