How to watch: Alabama Crimson Tide basketball vs. Rhode Island

Alabama basketball will look to build on its 78-59 victory over Florida Atlantic as it plays in its first road game of the season against Rhode Island on Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT. Here’s all the information you need to know about the game.

Who: Alabama (1-1) vs. Rhode Island (1-1)

When: 6:30 p.m. CT, Friday, Nov. 15

Where: Ryan Center, South Kingstown, R.I.

TV: NBCSN (play-by-play: Rich Lerner, analyst: Ron Thompson

Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (play-by-play: Roger Hoover, analyst: Bryan Passink)

Kira Lewis Jr.: 6-foot-3, 165 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 23.0 ppg., 7.0 rpg., 6.5 apg., 47.2% FG, 40% 3-pt

Jaden Shackelford: 6-foot-3, 195 pounds, freshman

Stats: 16.5 ppg., 4.5 rpg., 1.5 apg., 40% FG, 35% 3-pt

John Petty Jr.: 6-foot-5, 184 pounds, junior

Stats: 9.0 ppg., 7.5 rpg., 3.0 apg., 27.8% FG, 20.0% 3-pt

Herbert Jones: 6-foot-7, 205 pounds, junior

Stats: 5.0 ppg., 0.0 rpg., 0.0 apg., 25%FG

Javian Davis: 6-foot-9, 242 pounds, freshman

Stats: 10.5 ppg., 5.5 rpg., 1.0 apg., 58.3%FG

Fatts Russell: 5-foot-10, 165 pounds, junior

Stats: 11.5 ppg., 3.0 rpg., 5.5 apg., 35% FG, 33.3% 3-pt

Jeff Dowtin: 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, senior

Stats: 13.5 ppg., 3.5 rpg., 2.0 apg., 32.3% FG, 41.7% 3-pt

Tyrese Martin: 6-foot-6, 205 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 11.0 ppg., 6.5 rpg., 3.0 apg., 44.4% FG, 54.5% 3-pt

Cyril Langevine: 6-foot-8, 230 pounds, senior

Stats: 11.0 ppg., 16.0 rpg., 1.0 apg., 36.0% FG

Jermaine Harris: 6-foot-8, 230 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 5.0 ppg., 4.0 rpg., 0.0 apg., 36.4% FG

— Entering the week, Rhode Island senior forward Cyril Langevine was leading the nation with 16.0 rebounds per game. Last season, Langevine ranked No. 15 nationally with 17 double-doubles.

“We’re going to have to put a body on him,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “He’s going to get some rebounds, we just can't let him get eight or nine offensive rebounds like he’s got in the first two games. Some of those are his own misses. We’ve got to box him out when he shoots it. He just follows his own misses up a lot. Some of those are other guys. So our bigs are going to have to be really locked in and keep him off the glass.”

— This will be Alabama’s first road game of the season. The Crimson Tide finished 4-8 in true road games last season. Rhode Island is also projected as a possible NCAA Tournament team, so a road win could influence Alabama’s resume dramatically later on in the year.

“I think one of the best things in college basketball is going on the road and kind of silencing a crowd,” Oats said. “I mean, we’ve seen some pretty big road upsets here this week. So I wouldn’t call ours a road upset if we win, but it’s going to definitely be a tough game. Rhode Island’s a quality team. I think if we can manage to get the win it’s going to be a quality win come March when people are looking at road wins.”

— Herbert Jones was limited in practice Friday as he continues to recover from a hyper-extended elbow that kept him out of Alabama’s last game. Oats said the junior forward looked “fairly decent” in the skill portion of practice but did not take part in team drills.

“We’re going to see what it feels like tomorrow in shootaround, and it’ll be kind of a game-time decision… We don't want to get him hurt anymore for down the road. We really need him healthy a few weeks from now.”

— Oats said part of Alabama’s offseason prep included some mandatory reading as everyone on the team read “Pound The Stone: 7 Lessons to Develop Grit on the Path to Mastery” by Joshua Medcalf. The team readings are something the head coach brought over from his time at Buffalo and are designed to hammer home important mental aspects of the game.

“It’s not that 101st blow to the stone that breaks it, it’s the 100 before it,” Oats said referencing the book. “We just talk about pounding the stone. You’ve just got to keep getting stops, keep getting stops, keep getting stops. You may miss four or five shots in a row, but eventually, if you keep getting stops and the stone breaks and you go on a big run.”

— Last season, Rhode Island ranked last in the nation, shooting just 28.0 percent from beyond the arc. The Rams have seen an improvement on that number this season as they’ve shot 32.7 percent from deep over their first two games. Rhode Island hit nine 3s against Long Island University and seven 3s against Maryland.

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