Alabama basketball will travel to unfamiliar territory this December, playing the program’s first-ever game in the state of North Dakota against the North Dakota Fighting Hawks. The game will take place in Grand Forks on Dec. 18, a part of both teams’ non-conference schedules.
It will be a homecoming for Alabama forward Grant Nelson, who is from Devils Lake, N.D. and attended North Dakota State for the first three seasons of his college career before transferring to Alabama.
“When Grant Nelson decided to go back to Alabama, Coach Stevens reached out immediately to see if they had interest in bringing Grant back to his home state for a game, and to Coach Oats credit, they jumped on it,” said UND head men’s basketball coach Paul Sather. “Not often do you get a potential top-5 ranked team to come to Grand Forks! It should be an awesome environment and opportunity to compete against a great team on our home court.”
North Dakota will also play in Coleman Coliseum to open the 2025-26 and 2027-28 seasons as part of the agreement.
Alabama’s full 2024-25 non-conference slate is beginning to take shape, with multiple game dates being revealed over the past few weeks. Of the knows dates are Nov. 11 vs McNeese, Nov. 15 at Purdue, Dec. 14 vs Creighton, and Dec. 22 vs Kent State. The Crimson Tide will also travel to Las Vegas to play three games in the Players Era Festival during Thanksgiving week.
The date of the North Dakota game was previously the date of the C.M. Newton Classic in Birmingham, which will now be rescheduled.