UA Wheelchair Basketball Teams to Play Doubleheader Jan. 11

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama Men’s and Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Teams will play a doubleheader on Thursday, Jan. 11 starting at 5 p.m. in the UA Student Recreation Center.

The Crimson Tide Men will host top-ranked University of Wisconsin Whitewater in the opening game at 5 p.m. and the Crimson Tide Women will play the 6th-ranked University of Arizona Wildcats at 7 p.m.

The 5 p.m. game will be a challenge for the Alabama men who are in their first year of existence as a team. UWW has won four of the last five National Championships in collegiate wheelchair basketball and are coming into Tuscaloosa undefeated on the season.

In the 7 p.m. game, the Alabama women take on the visiting Wildcats from Arizona. The UA Women and the University of Arizona Women both compete in the Women’s Division of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, known as the NWBA. The Crimson Tide is coming off a 5th-place finish last season and is currently ranked 5th this season. The game is expected to be an intense contest between two very evenly matched teams.

Dr. Brent Hardin, director of UA Disability Sports, says the fans should expect an exciting game. “Arizona has a really good, quick, young team. They are our one of our biggest rivals in the sport.”

Admission is free and Crimson Tide fans are encouraged to “paint the gym crimson” by wearing crimson shirts to the game. Following the games on campus all four teams will travel to the Pioneer Classic at the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham for two more days of tournament play.

For more information about UA Disability Sports or the UA Wheelchair Basketball Teams, please contact Hardin at 205/348-5109 or 205/246-3372 or go to the Alabama Wheelchair Basketball Web site at www.uads.ua.edu