Charles Koch Arena - Wichita, KS
Tip-off: Tuesday, 9:00 p.m. ET
Line: Wichita State -13.5

No. 11 Wichita State looks to keep things rolling as the Shockers take on SEC foe Alabama.

Alabama has played pretty well this season, but the Crimson Tide are still looking for a signature victory. Alabama’s two losses are to Iowa State and Xavier, teams that are by far the best teams that the Crimson Tide have played this season. Last year, these two teams played, with the Shockers escaping with the 72-67 victory. A big difference was the battle on the glass, as Wichita State outrebounded Alabama, 38-26. Anthony Grant has done a good job at Alabama at getting his team to play well against teams with good defenses like Wichita State (10-2 ATS against teams that give up 64 points or less). The Shockers aren’t going to go through the season undefeated this year, but this is still a very talented basketball team that performs very well against winning teams. (17-4 ATS against teams with winning records the past two seasons).

Can Wichita State cover the big spread on Tuesday night? For the latest college basketball picks, check out The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks. The experts have begun the 2014-15 season with a bang, posting a collective 55% ATS mark (69-56) in Best Bets. The five experts are led by StatFox Gary's stellar 68% ATS mark (17-8), while StatFox Brian is 60% ATS (15-10) and StatFox Zach is 56% ATS (14-11) to open the season.

The Crimson Tide enter the game ranked 30th in the country in scoring (78 PPG) and 92nd in shooting (46 5 from the field), but they need to improve on sharing the ball (156th in the country, 13 APG). Leading the way for Alabama Levi Randolph (17.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG and 3.0 APG), who is one of the most complete players in the SEC. He also shoots 53 % from the field, 90 % from the line and 37 % from the three-point line. He has nice size at 6-foot-5, 210 pounds, and he is relentless when attacking the rim. Trevor Releford is gone from last season’s team, and he was the guy that got Alabama into their offensive sets. Ricky Tarrant (13.4 PPG, 2.0 RPG and 1.6 SPG) and Rodney Cooper (13.0 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 1.5 APG) are two more guys who can score off the bounce, but they need to continue to improve on moving the ball around. The strength of Alabama is the guard play, but Shannon Hale (9.4 PPG, 3.6 RPG and 1.8 APG) will play a big role in this game against a Shockers team, that also relies heavily on its backcourts.

Wichita State possesses one of the best backcourts in college basketball, as Fred Van Vleet (13.0 PPG, 5.3 APG and 4.4 RPG) and Ron Baker (18.5 PPG, 4.4 RPG and 2.5 APG) play so well with each other. The Shockers enter this game ranked 28th in scoring (78.1 PPG), 33rd in rebounding (40.3 RPG), 63rd in assists (15.0 APG) and 74th in shooting (46.6 % from the field). The fact that Wichita State ranks so high in rebounding is impressive, as the Shockers are not a very big team. They do a great job of rebounding as a team, as six guys average at least 4.0 RPG, while Darius Carter (12.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG and 57 % from the field) is the leading rebounder. Carter is very important on this team, as he is the true post guy for the Shockers. Tekele Cotton (10.9 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 2.6 APG) is one of the best perimeter defenders in college basketball, and the true spark plug on this Shockers team. He is the guy that gets the steal and breakaway dunk that gets the team going early.