Alabama basketball hosts Chattanooga Monday night at Coleman Colesium. Tip off is set for 8pm.

Neil Ashby, UTC's 6-foot-8, 200 pound senior forward, is Chattanooga's leading scorer. He's also a former Alabama player. Ashby played one season for David Hobbs his true freshman year and then played a season for Mark Gottfried in Gottfried's first season in 1998-99. Ashby transferred from Alabama following that year and had to sit out the 1999-2000 season as a transfer. The Atlanta native came off the bench at Alabama, playing in 45 games (out of a possible 62). He averaged 2.2 points and 1.0 rebounds his sophomore year and 2.6 points and 1.8 rebounds as a freshman. He was nicknamed "Grasshopper" by the Alabama coaches and players his freshman year because of his leaping ability. The only players on the current Tide team who were playing for Alabama and were Ashby's teammates are junior guard Travis Stinnett and senior forward Solomon Davis. (Stinnett was declared a medical redshirt after playing in four games that 1998-99 season and Davis was a freshman redshirt that year. Three members of Alabama's coaching staff were here then, including head coach Mark Gottfried, assistant coach Philip Pearson and director of basketball operations Darron Boatright.

The Alabama-Chattanooga game will mark the first of five scheduled appearances by the Crimson Tide on Fox SportsNet. Bob Rathbun will provide the play-by-play and Charles Davis the color commentary. Andy Pollack is the producer.

Fox SportsNet will also carry the December 8 UCLA game in the John R. Wooden Classic (tipoff at 6 p.m. CT/4 p.m. PT), the December 27 Notre Dame game in the Sugar Bowl Classic (7 p.m. CT), the January 5 LSU game in Tuscaloosa (6 p.m. CT), and the January 12 Auburn game in Auburn (4 p.m. CT).

Alabama will hit the road for one game in the John R. Wooden Classic. Alabama plays UCLA in Anaheim on Saturday, December 8 at 6 p.m. CT/4 p.m.PT. (Arizona and Purdue play the event's opening game). That trip will be a nostalgic one for Tide head coach Mark Gottfried who was an assistant at UCLA for eight years, including its 1995 National Champions season. He was an assistant along with Steve Lavin who is now UCLA's head coach. Gottfried is also a friend of the man the event is named after, John Wooden, and visited with Coach Wooden as recently as this past August.

Two Tide Players Among SEC's Top 20 Scorers

Helping fuel Alabama's offense are two junior starters who both rank among the SEC's top 20 in scoring. Rod Grizzard (16.0) ranks among the top 10 in the league and Erwin Dudley ranks among the second ten (12.7). Going into the weekend's round of SEC games, Erwin Dudley is the SEC leader in field goal percentage. In six games the Uniontown native has made 35 of his 56 attempted shots from the field for 62.5 percent.

Tide junior Kenny Walker set a career best-and pulled together the SEC's second best numbers so far this season-when he blocked five shots against McNeese State on Thursday night (November 29). (Auburn's Kyle Davis blocked six against High Point on November 16).

Tide at No. 22 in Both Nov. 29-Dec. 2 Polls

With a week that included a win against then No. 12/14 Memphis last Wednesday in the Guardians Classic 3rd place (of 16 teams) game and a seven point loss to No. 5 Missouri, Alabama remains at No. 22 in both the Associated Press and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls.

Bama's opponents still dot the list of the nation's Top 25 teams, including (listed 1st with AP ranking then ESPN) No. 3/No. 11 UCLA, No. 5/No. 5 Missouri, No. 7/No. 6 Florida, No. 10/No. 14 Kentucky, No. 12/No. 19 Memphis, and No. 25 Temple. Several more Tide opponents are receiving Top 25 votes, including Ole Miss, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Auburn and Utah.

Bama In Nov. 30 League Stats, TEAM:

Scoring: 2nd

Scoring Margin: 3rd

Field Goal Percentage: 3rd

3-Pt Field Goal Percentage Defense: 3rd

Turnover Margin: 3rd

Assist/Turnover Ratio: 3rd (1.24)

Turnover Margin: 3rd

Defensive Rebounds: 3rd

Field Goal Percentage Defense: 4th

Blocked Shots: 4th

Bama In Nov. 30 League Stats, INDIVIDUAL:

Scoring: Rod Grizzard 8th, Erwin Dudley 19th

Rebounding: Erwin Dudley 10th, Rod Grizzard 13th

Field Goal %: Erwin Dudley 1st, Rod Grizzard 9th

Assists: Mo Williams 5th

3-Pt FG%: Earnest Shelton 5th

Blocked Shots: Kenny Walker 4th, Rod Grizzard 8th

Assist/Turnover Ratio: at 5th Antoine Pettway 4.67;

At 9th Terrance Meade 3.25

Offensive rebounds: Kenny Walker 5th

Defensive rebounds: 8th Rod Grizzard & Erwin Dudley (tied)

Available; $12 adults; youth ticket $6 for age 15 & under Uof A Home Game Tickets: UofA Ticket Office (205) 348-BAMA or SouthTix 800-240-2300. Season Tickets can be ordered on www.rolltide.com

Crimson Tide Sports Network with Eli Gold and Tom Roberts, WVUA 90.7 FM (UofA Campus Station) for home campus games only

Live audio of CTSN's radio broadcast is available on the internet on www.rolltide.com. Tide basketball information is available there as well as on www.markgottfried.com and www.crimsontradition.com.

No. 22 AP/No. 22 ESPN/USA Today ALABAMA (5-1 OVERALL, 0-0 SEC):

F- 35 Erwin Dudley 6-8, 260, JR, Uniontown 12.7 ppg/7.5 rpg

C- 42 Kenny Walker 6-9, 230, JR, Jacksonville, Fla. 9.8 ppg/5.3 rpg/2.0 bpg

G- 21 Rod Grizzard 6-8, 200, JR, Birmingham 16.0 ppg/6.7 rpg

G- 14 Terrance Meade 6-2, 190, JR, Scottsboro 11.3 ppg/3.0 rpg/2.2 apg

G- 25 Mo Williams 6-1, 185, FR, Jackson, Miss. 10.0 ppg/3.7 rpg/4.8 apg

Head Coach: Mark Gottfried (Alabama, 1987)

UT Chattanooga Mocs (2-3 going into a December 1 game at Kent State)

F-03 Neil Ashby 6-8, 200, SR, Atlanta, Ga.

F-40 Nick Benson 6-5, 210, JR, St. Louis, MO./Moberly JC

C-44 Dusty Pullian 6-8, 215, SR, Benton Harbor, Mich./Southeastern CC

G-20 Clyde McCully 6-0, 173, SR, Beaumont, Texas/Northern Iowa CC

G-21 Toot Young 6-3, 175, SR, Norfolk, Va./Bervard JC

HeadCoach: Henry Dickerson (Morris Harvey, 1973)