TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Coleman Coliseum might feel a bit less familiar for No. 7 Alabama basketball on Saturday night.

It’s been 33 days since the Crimson Tide has played a game on its home court, beating McNeese State, 72-64, on Nov. 11. Over that span Alabama went through a grueling stretch, picking up wins over then-ranked No. 25 Illinois, No. 6 Houston, Rutgers and No. 6 North Carolina while falling at then-ranked No. 13 Purdue and against Oregon.

The Tide’s long-awaited homecoming experienced a hurdle this week as Alabama’s commencement ceremonies occupied the Coleman floor on Thursday and Friday. The Tide was able to practice in its home gym on Monday and Tuesday but won't be able to go through its typical game-day shootaround ahead of Saturday’s matchup against Creighton due to graduation.

“We’ll be in there right before the game trying to get a feel for it,” head coach Nate Oats said during his Friday press conference. “I think the good thing for us is this is where we play and we have had an opportunity to practice in there some. But yeah, we’ve mainly been in the practice gym this last month or practicing on the road in Vegas.”

Alabama (7-2) is currently an 11.5-point favorite over Creighton (7-3). The Bluejays hold a 3-0 all-time record over the Crimson Tide, including an 85-82 victory in Omaha, Nebraska last year.

Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s matchup.

Who: No. 7 Alabama (7-2) vs. Creighton (7-3)

When: 7:30 p.m. CT, Saturday, Dec. 14

Where: Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Watch: SEC Network (play-by-play: Tom Hart, analyst: Dane Bradshaw)

Listen: Crimson Tide Sports Network | SIRIUS/XM 134/201 (play-by-play: Roger Hoover, analyst: Bryan Passink)

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

Stats: 16.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.1 apg, 37.0% FG, 28.8% 3-pt

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

Stats: 11.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 4.0 apg, 52.0% FG, 27.3% 3-pt

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

Stats: 5.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.0 apg, 41.7% FG, 25.9% 3-pt

Grant Nelson: 6-foot-11, 230 pounds, graduate

Stats: 13.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 2.0 apg, 54.1% FG, 29.6% 3-pt

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

Stats: 8.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 0.8 apg, 71.8% FG

Steven Ashworth: 6-foot, 175 pounds, senior

Stats: 15.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 5.9 apg, 41.5% FG, 40.0% 3-pt

Jamiya Neal: 6-foot-5, 190 pounds, senior

Stats: 10.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 4.7 apg, 46.7% FG, 25.0% 3-pt

Mason Miller: 6-foot-9, 195 pounds, junior

Stats: 1.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.6 apg, 15.0% FG, 15.8% 3-pt

Jackson McAndrew: 6-foot-10, 220 pounds, freshman

Stats: 7.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 0.2 apg, 36.7% FG, 29.4% 3-pt

Ryan Kalkbrenner: 7-foot-1, 270 pounds, senior

Stats: 17.3 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 1.2 apg, 73.8% FG

These type of games are the reason Alabama brought in Clifford Omoruyi this offseason. The Rutgers transfer is viewed as one of the nation’s best rim protectors. While he hasn’t yet matched his numbers from previous seasons, the 6-foot-11 center is off to a solid start for the Tide.

Omoruyi leads Alabama with 1.4 blocks per game and is averaging 8.1 points and 6.1 rebounds over 18.3 minutes per game. The graduate big has already held his own against quality bigs such as Illinois’ Tomislav Ivisic and Oregon’s Nate Bittle. However, this weekend will mark his biggest test since joining the Tide.

Creighton brings one of college basketball’s best bigs to Coleman in Ryan Kalkbrenner. The 7-foot-1 senior was included on the watch list for the Naismith Player of the Year award and recorded a 49-point game earlier this season.

Last season, Alabama struggled to guard Kalkbrenner as then-starting Tide center Mohamed Wague fouled out in just seven minutes on the court before backup Nick Pringle fouled out over 23 minutes. Kalkbrenner ended up with 19 points and eight rebounds despite battling a sprained ankle.

Alabama will need a better performance from Omoruyi to put up a better fight against the Creighton big Saturday night.

“Cliff’s gonna have to step up to the challenge and play a little bit better,” Oats said. “We didn’t stress our post-D going into that Purdue game like we should’ve in hindsight. I didn’t think it was gonna be an issue. The fact that Cliff doesn’t have to guard the post ever in practice makes it a little bit harder for him to be a great post defender because he’s not going against a great post player every day in practice. But I think he’s more than capable of being good, and against these dominant post players where they like to feed the post players we probably need to play him a few more minutes.”

It will be a lot easier for Alabama to contain Kalkbrenner if his supporting cast isn’t hitting from deep. Creighton has been hot and cold from beyond the arc this season. The Bluejays are a combined 33 of 73 (45.2%) in their last three wins against UNLV, Kansas and Notre Dame, but shot a combined 31 of 110 (28.18%) in losses during their previous three games against Texas A&M, San Diego State and Nebraska.

Last season, Mason Miller led Creighton by shooting 45.4% from 3. The 6-foot-9 forward is just 3 of 19 (15.8%) from beyond the arc this season but made 2 of 4 deep balls during the Bluejays’ upset of then-No. 1 Kansas last week. Miller hit two of 3 shots from beyond the arc against Alabama last year, while Creighton went 6 of 18 from 3.

While Alabama will have to dedicate plenty of focus inside toward Kalkbrenner, Oats said that his team will also have to respect the Bluejays shooters Saturday night.

“There’s multiple guys on that team that can shoot,” Oats said. “So you start doubling and fronting [Kalkbrenner]. Whether you double after it goes in [the paint] or front, you’re pulling two guys in to guard him which means there’s a two-on-one somewhere. These guys move the ball really well, they find the two-on-ones. When the two-on-ones are with two elite shooters and two great passers, all of a sudden you’re giving up 3s.”

— Saturday’s game will mark the fifth straight and sixth out of the last seven where Alabama has faced a player named to the Naismith Player of the Year Watch List (Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner, North Carolina's RJ Davis, Oregon's Jackson Shelstad, Rutgers' Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, Houston's LJ Cryer and Purdue's Braden Smith).

— Alabama has faced eight opponents ranked inside KenPom’s top 100. That includes four inside the top 20. Alabama is currently tied with Purdue for most such games this season.

— Alabama is one of five SEC teams ranked in the Associated Press top 10. This marks the first time the conference has had five teams ranked in the top 10.

— Creighton and Alabama have both made it to the Sweet 16 in three of the past four seasons. Houston, Gonzaga and UCLA are the only other programs to achieve the feat during that span.

— Since Jan. 20, 2014, Creighton has 15 wins over teams ranked in the top 10 in the AP poll. Before that, the Blue Jays went 14,588 days (Feb. 10, 1974 to Jan. 19, 2014) without such a win.

— Creighton head coach Greg McDermott is 7-5 against SEC teams, including a 3-0 record against Alabama.