1/26/21 MBB
Alabama Guard Joshua Primo (11)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Alabama men’s basketball team will host Baylor in the ninth annual Big 12/SEC Challenge, the Southeastern Conference announced on Wednesday. The Crimson Tide and Bears will go head-to-head in their ninth meeting as the two teams face off at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa on January 29, 2022. Television designations and tipoff times will be announced at a later date.
FACING THE CHALLENGE
- Alabama will make its sixth appearance in the annual event as it hosts defending national champion Baylor at Coleman Coliseum
- The two teams have met nine times with Alabama leading the series 7-2
- The Tide suffered a 73-68 loss in its last meeting with the Bears during the 2019 Challenge
- Alabama holds a 3-2 record in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, topping Texas Tech, 74-64, in 2013, then-ranked No. 12 Oklahoma, 80-73, in 2018 and Kansas State, 77-74, in 2020
- The Crimson Tide suffered a heartbreaking loss to then-No. 24 Oklahoma in last year’s Challenge, falling to the Sooners 66-61 on Jan. 30, 2021
- The loss to Oklahoma was just the second loss for the Crimson Tide in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Alabama’s only other loss was at Baylor in 2019.
- Alabama holds a 3-0 record when playing at home at Coleman Coliseum
A LOOK AT THE BIG 12/SEC CHALLENGE
- The SEC and Big 12 will square off for the ninth consecutive year, with the two conferences going head-to-head since the 2013-14 season
- The Challenge will feature all 10 Big 12 institutions and 10 of the SEC’s 14 members
- All 10 of the SEC programs that competed in the 2020 competition will return for this year’s Big 12/SEC matchup
- The SEC won the 2021 Challenge 5-4
- The 10th matchup featuring Kentucky and Texas was canceled due to COVID-19 safety protocols by Kentucky
- The 2021 Challenge featured eight ranked teams including then-No. 9 Alabama
- In the last four years, the SEC has won the Challenge twice and tied once
- This will be the seventh year that a bye in the league schedule for participating teams was created to accommodate the single-day format
- The first two years of the Challenge were played over several days in November and December, but the last six seasons have been consolidated to one single day in January
- ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will broadcast the games, with start times and network designations to be announced
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