Alabama Basketball Scheduling Matchup With Kennesaw State

Head coach Nate Oats and company will face former Crimson Tide assistant and current Owls head coach Antoine Pettway in Huntsville, Alabama, next season.

Alabama Head Coach Nate Oats confers with Assistant Coach Antoine Pettway during an exhibition game in Coleman Coliseum Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021. [Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.] Alabama Vs Louisiana Exhibition Basketball | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK

Alabama men's basketball is scheduling a matchup with Kennesaw State for this upcoming season, per Rocco Miller.

"Sources: Kennesaw State, Alabama will meet in a neutral-site game at Propst Arena in Huntsville on Sunday, December 21st," Miller wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). "Antoine Pettway faces his Alma Mater in the same building as the 2026 CUSA Tournament."

Pettway played basketball for the University of Alabama from 2000-04 and was an assistant for the Crimson Tide from 2008-2010 and then from 2013-2023. The final few years of his coaching experience were under current Alabama head coach Nate Oats.

On April 7, 2023, Pettway was hired to be Kennesaw State's next head coach. He is one of five former Nate Oats assistants to land head coaching jobs, joining Austin Claunch (UTSA), Charlie Henry (Georgia Southern), Bryan Hodgson (Arkansas State and now South Florida), and most recently, Ryan Pannone, who on March 29 finalized a deal to take Hodgson's place at Arkansas State.

This is the third former Alabama assistant that the Tide will face next season, as Oats and company will host UTSA (Claunch) on December 7 and will also go head-to-head with South Florida (Hodgson) at an unknown date.

After falling to Florida in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal, Alabama received the 2-seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament and defeated Robert Morris, Saint Mary's and BYU before losing to 1-seed Duke in the Elite Eight. The Crimson Tide finished the season with a 28-9 (13-5 SEC) record. Alabama finished 2024-25 as the No. 6 team in the AP Top 25 and No. 6 in the Coaches Poll.

In his second year as Kennesaw State's head coach, Pettway and the Owls went 19-14 (10-8 CUSA) this past season. Kennesaw State's season ended at the hands of Liberty in the second round of the CUSA Tournament by a score of 81-79.

Alabama's 2025-26 Non-Conference Schedule

• Nov. 3: vs. North Dakota
• Nov. 8: at St. John’s
• Nov. 13: vs. Purdue
• Nov. 19: at Illinois (in Chicago)
• Nov. 26-30: at Players Era Festival (three games in Las Vegas)
• Dec. 2 or 3: SEC/ACC Challenge
• Dec. 7: vs. UTSA
• Dec. 13: vs. Arizona (in Birmingham for C.M. Newton Classic)
• Dec. 21: vs. Kennesaw State (in Huntsville)
• TBD: vs. Yale
• TBD: vs. South Florida