Alabama basketball vs Villanova in NCAA Tournament: Game information, TV, preview (March 17, 2018)
The No. 9-seeded Alabama basketball team will square off against No. 1 seed Villanova on Saturday at 11:10 a.m. CT at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. The second-round contest will be broadcast live on CBS.
The Crimson Tide are looking to advance to their first Sweet 16 since 2004. Alabama has reached seven Sweet 16s and one Elite Eight (2004) in program history.
The Saturday matchup will mark the fourth meeting between Alabama and Villanova, with the Crimson Tide leading the all-time series 2-1. The last time the two teams met was in the 2K Sports Classic championship game on Nov. 16, 2012, when Alabama ran away with a 77-55 victory at Madison Square Garden.
Alabama’s last bout with a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament came on March 20, 2004, when the Tide downed Stanford 70-67 to advance to the Elite Eight. Current assistant coach Antoine Pettway was a member on the Crimson Tide team that season.
How to follow Alabama basketball vs. Villanova
- CBS will televise the game.
- The radio broadcast can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network with Chris Stewart (play-by-play) and Bryan Passink (analyst) on the call.
What you should know about Alabama basketball vs. Villanova
- Alabama freshman Collin Sexton went for a game-high 25 points in the 86-83 win over the Virginia Tech Hokies on Thursday. In doing so, he became the eighth player in program history to score 600 points in a single season (currently has 615). It was also his fourth consecutive game of scoring 20 or more points. Over the stretch, Sexton is averaging 26 points per game, while shooting 53.3 percent (32 of 60) from the field and 50 percent (11 of 22) from deep.
- Villanova is the No. 1 seed in the East for the second season in a row and third time in the past four seasons. This is the fourth No. 1 seed the program has earned. The Wildcats were also a No. 1 seed in 2006.
