Alabama basketball picked up its first win in program history over Creighton on Saturday and has another first on the board this week.
The Crimson Tide travel to North Dakota for an inaugural meeting with the Fighting Hawks, marking the first matchup of a three-game series.
Before UA (8-2) was announced as the country's No. 2 team in the preseason , UND coach Paul Sather shared his excitement about coach Nate Oats' eagerness to get forward Grant Nelson back for a game in his home state .
"Not often do you get a potential top-5 ranked team to come to Grand Forks!" Sather said in May.
While the Crimson Tide has since fallen to seventh in the nation with the yearly nonconference gauntlet, North Dakota (4-8) could be a much-needed break in the schedule for UA. Yet, UND will likely be clawing tooth and nail against Nelson. That doesn't mean they'll stop him. Especially with Grand Forks just about 90 miles from his hometown of Devils Lake, a much easier trip for fans to see Nelson than the 1,441-mile haul to Tuscaloosa. Plus, Nelson went 5-1 against UND in his three seasons at North Dakota State.
Nelson averaged 19.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in those contests, achieving career-highs of 36 points as a junior after a career-high 24 points while a sophomore at NDSU. Through 10 games and eight starts this season at UA, he has averages of 12.2 points and eight rebounds per game with double-doubles against Houston and Purdue.
Alabama's offense is ranked sixth in the country by KenPom, but it hasn't been as efficient as it could be. Between North Dakota's offense sitting at No. 224 and the defense landing at No. 345 out of 364, UA should get out of the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, better known as "The Betty," with ease.
Opponents are shooting 47.4% against UND, draining 34.3% of baskets from 3-point range. UA is averaging a 31.8% completion rate from the arc heading into Wednesday.
No doubt Alabama is UND's toughest opponent yet. KenPom ranks the team's schedule strength 230th among college programs. UND isn't winning that docket either, narrowly pulling out upsets against Utah Valley, Loyola Marymount and Weber State.
To get an idea of the kind of win UA could walk away with, the point spread comes out to 25.5 in favor of the Crimson Tide, which has a 98.3% chance of winning per ESPN 's matchup predictor.
Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball for the Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: North Dakota out for upset as Alabama basketball's Grant Nelson comes home
