Alabama and Creighton’s men’s basketball will get a national audience on Saturday night, both needing an out-of-conference win.

The Crimson Tide struggled against Ohio State in a neutral site defeated and faltered at home versus Clemson. According to coach Nate Oats, UA played one of its best games of the season last weekend in Toronto. But the final score still read in Purdue’s favor, giving Alabama three losses in its last five games. Creighton, meanwhile, has seen the ghosts of the Mountain West Conference with setbacks against a surging Colorado State and most recently, UNLV.

For Alabama (6-3), time is running out for a marquee, resume-boosting win before the SEC gauntlet in 2024. After facing the No. 8 Bluejays (8-2), Alabama will travel to Phoenix and meet No. 1 Arizona on Dec. 20. KenPom predicts Alabama will be on a three-game skid when it returns to Coleman Coliseum against Eastern Kentucky.

Two of the best offenses in the country will meet in the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Neb., for a 7 p.m. tipoff on FOX. Alabama features the fifth-best 3-point rate nationally (40.9%) compared to Creighton’s 39% (ranked 26th).

“They get (3s) in similar ways to us, they get them in some different ways than us. But we got to do a great job guarding the 3-point line,” Oats said. ” … I thought last game our guys messed up some of the coverages. We’re supposed to double off certain guys, not off certain ones. And they came off the wrong guys, gave up 3s. We can’t do that this game.”

Both are top 10 in effective field-goal percentage. While Mark Sears (21.4 points per game) has had the best start to a season in his career, Creighton is led by Baylor Scheierman. The forward is shooting 37.2% from deep and Oats said he was a target for the Tide when he transferred from South Dakota State in 2022.

Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton’s 7-foot-1 senior, is averaging 15.8 points per game. Oats noted that Creighton will post up Kalkbrenner, giving Grant Nelson, Jarin Stevenson, Nick Pringle and Mohamed Wague a challenge after Purdue star Zach Edey scored 35. Creighton also shot the ball poorly in each of its losses, shooting 14-of-48 (29.1%), giving UA’s transitional defense a clear goal.

“I think we’re close to where we need to be and this is a quality team,” said Oats. “I like playing good teams to figure out how good we are compared to the best in the company. We’re gonna find that out here Saturday.”

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].