GAME NOTES: The Alabama Crimson Tide try to keep their unblemished home record intact, as they host the Texas A&M Aggies in an SEC showdown at Coleman Coliseum.

A perfect 9-0 in their own building, the Crimson Tide are seeking their fifth straight win overall. Of the three setbacks the team has suffered, two have come against nationally-ranked opponents (Iowa State and Wichita State), the most recent of those being a narrow 53-52 loss at the Shockers on Dec. 16.

More recently, the program was in action last Friday versus North Florida, the tune-up to the SEC opener, and it tore through the Ospreys by a final of 76-61.

As for the Aggies, they are seeking their 10th win of the campaign and their third in a row. In a conference where all but one team (Missouri) is playing above .500, picking up wins anywhere possible is crucial and that's what A&M did in the last week with a 65-50 triumph over Mercer and a 58-49 victory against Hartford.

Alabama may lead the all-time series by a count of 7-4, but the Aggies have come out on top in four of the last five encounters.

The Aggies jumped out to an early lead against Hartford and never looked back, even as the hosts converted just eight field goals and missed all six chances behind the 3-point line in the first half. The nine-point victory was somewhat surprising given that A&M ended up missing all 13 tries out on the perimeter, six of those misses being charged to Danuel House who finished with nine points on 3-of-12 shooting overall off the bench.

Jalen Jones and Kourtney Roberson led the way on offence for the Aggies as they tallied 12 and 10 points, respectively. Alex Caruso tallied just two points but contributed significantly with 10 assists, eight rebounds and five steals.

Jones leads the program in scoring with 13.3 ppg and is also tops with 6.0 rpg, while House comes in with 12.1 ppg even though he has appeared in just nine games, starting seven. But the most important performer could easily be Caruso (8.3 ppg) who is a 55.9 percent shooter from the floor that might be even more comfortable allowing teammates to claim the spotlight after handing out 77 assists.

Alabama actually fell behind the Ospreys by seven points less than six minutes into their meeting last week, but managed to surge ahead at the break on 57.7 percent shooting from the floor and remain in charge after the visitors made a total of only seven field goals in the second half. Michael Kessens registered a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds, both of which were game highs, while Levi Randolph tallied 13 points, Rodney Cooper 11 and Riley Norris 10 points in the victory.

One of only two players to have started every game for the Tide, Randolph leads the offense with 16.2 ppg on the strength of his 50.4 percent shooting from the field. He is also tops in assists (37) and steals (21) and one of the better rebounders for Alabama with close to five boards per contest. Rickey Tarrant checks in with 13.0 ppg and Cooper 10.7 ppg for a squad that is outscoring opponents by 7.3 ppg thanks to 74.0 percent accuracy at the charity stripe.

Considering the three losses by Alabama have come against formidable foes, the team should have learned enough from those setbacks in order to kick off the SEC schedule in style.