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Alabama wide receiver no longer expected to enter transfer portal

admin January 6, 2026

Alabama will play the SEC’s lone remaining undefeated men’s basketball team, Vanderbilt, on Wednesday night in Nashville.

Vanderbilt is 14-0 after Saturday’s SEC-opening win at South Carolina. The Commodores moved up one spot to No. 10 in Monday’s coaches poll and remained No. 11 in Monday’s Associated Press poll; they are the top-ranked SEC team in both polls.

Alabama, which defeated Kentucky to open its SEC schedule, moved up three spots in the coaches poll to No. 12 and one spot in the AP poll to No. 13. There was no AP poll released last week during the holiday week.

Vanderbilt is one of six teams undefeated nationally along with Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State, Nebraska and Miami (Ohio). The Commodores are the SEC’s top-ranked team in NET at No. 5 and the only SEC team in the top 12 of KenPom at No. 6. They are 4-0 in Quadrant 1 games with wins over Saint Mary’s, SMU, at UCF and at Wake Forest.

“They’re really good,” coach Nate Oats told Crimson Tide Sports Network radio postgame Saturday. “Highest-ranked team metrics-wise and all that — they haven’t played the schedule we have, but they’re really good. We’re gonna have to be super locked in. We’re gonna have to play better on the defensive side than we did [against Kentucky].”

Alabama is the SEC’s second-ranked team in both NET (No. 12) and KenPom (No. 13). The Tide is 2-3 in Quadrant 1 games, but has the nation’s toughest schedule by NET compared to the 60th-toughest for Vanderbilt.

Wednesday’s game tips off at 8 p.m. CT and airs on ESPN2. Alabama is 7-2 against Vanderbilt under Nate Oats, with its most recent loss coming in the 2022 SEC tournament. The Tide has won five consecutive games in Memorial Gymnasium, with its last loss coming in 2018.

“It’s a different place to play,” Oats told CTSN postgame Saturday. “We’ve had some good games and we’ve had some not-so-good games. It’s different with where the bench is — it’s set up for theater, I think, instead of a basketball game. It’s like the fans are 100 yards off the field. It’s a little different.”

The Tide will return home Saturday night to host Texas at 7 p.m. CT; the Longhorns enter Tuesday’s game at Tennessee with a 9-5 record and 0-1 in the SEC. Texas is currently No. 71 in NET and No. 52 in KenPom.