Alabama Men’s Basketball Faces Dayton in 2016 ESPN Hoops Marathon

The Alabama men’s basketball team will make the program’s second appearance in as many years as part of the ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon, as the network announced the dates and times for the ninth annual event Tuesday afternoon. The Crimson Tide will play host to the Dayton Flyers on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 12:15 p.m. CT (1:15 p.m. ET) and will be televised on ESPN2.

Promotions and events surrounding this year’s mid-afternoon game will be announced at a later time on RollTide.com.

The Marathon, now in its ninth year, will feature 13 men’s and women’s college basketball games beginning on Monday, Nov. 14, and continuing Tuesday, Nov. 15, across ESPN and ESPN2, bringing more than 24 hours of game action to mark the start of the 2016-17 season. The schedule includes 11 men’s games and two top-15 women’s matchups concluding with the sixth annual State Farm Champions Classic from Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The Marathon schedule will include 11 games tipping off about every two hours beginning Monday at 6 p.m. with a tripleheader featuring the four-time defending national champion UConn women.

Alabama head coach Avery Johnson returns two starters and eight letterwinners from last season's 18-15 team that reached the National Invitation Tournament. The Crimson Tide will have to find a way to replace three of its top four scorers and its top three assist leaders from the 2015-16 squad. Part of that void will be filled with the return of redshirt freshman Dazon Ingram, who started each of the first seven games of the year before suffering a season-ending foot injury.

Johnson also welcomes back a pair of senior forwards in Shannon Hale, who returns as the team's leading scorer at 10.8 points per game, and Jimmie Taylor. Other returnees include junior forward Riley Norris, who led the team with 5.3 rebounds per game a year ago.

Newcomers include a total of four transfers who are eligible to suit up this season for the Tide. Fifth-year graduate transfers Corban Collins (Morehead State) and Bola Olaniyan (Southern Illinois) were each all-conference performers at their previous school and will be looking to make an immediate impact this season, In addition, Johnson also welcomes to the lineup junior Nick King (Memphis) and sophomore Avery Johnson Jr. (Texas A&M), who each sat out the 2015-16 season due to NCAA transfer rules.

The Tide will play a lone exhibition game on Nov. 3 at 7 p.m., when it welcomes Faulkner to Coleman Coliseum. Alabama then opens the 2016-17 regular season on Nov. 11 when it hosts Coastal Carolina.