London Jemison started 14 games as a freshman for Alabama but he has an opportunity to be a much bigger contributor in his second college season.
Jemison scored 15 points in the season opener and will attempt to put together a second straight solid effort when No. 20 Alabama takes on Arkansas State on Friday night at Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Jemison made 6 of 7 field-goal attempts as Alabama sped to a 96-74 victory over Sam Houston in Monday’s season opener. His output was more than double his 6.2 scoring average of a season ago.
The Crimson Tide never trailed and scored 41 fastbreak points in the high-octane outing. The fastbreak points were the most in the Alabama tenure of eighth-year coach Nate Oats.
“It’s super fun,” Jemison said of playing in Alabama’s offense. “It’s fast. It’s just fun playing fast. You get more possessions and more points.”
Boise State transfer Drew Fielder joined Jemison in scoring a team-best 15 points. Tarris Bouie (13) and Amari Allen (12) also scored in double figures.
Still, Oats wasn’t all that impressed with the offense. But he did like seeing the defense force 23 turnovers and total 17 steals and 10 blocked shots.
“We have never played this poorly on offense and still were able to put up 96 points, so the defensive intensity was great,” Oats said. “We have been doing a great job emphasizing defensive playmaking in practice. We had six guys with two or more steals, so that was working great for us.”
During the team’s three exhibition games, Oats repeatedly expressed that the rebounding needed to improve. And that was evident as Sam Houston held a 45-42 edge.
“They ended up beating us on the glass by three, which is a little disappointing,” Oats said. “We have been emphasizing rebounding and we are still not very good at it right now.”
Standout guard Aden Holloway will again be sidelined Friday. He will be serving the final contest of a five-game suspension for last March’s arrest for drug possession. The Crimson Tide’s three exhibition games were part of Holloway’s penalty.
Arkansas State (1-0) also won its opener, beating visiting Toledo 71-70.
Tameron Ferguson stood out in his Division I debut with 20 points of 8-of-10 shooting to go with seven rebounds and three steals. Ferguson was a Division II All-American at Augustana last season when he averaged 20.0 points, 6.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds.
Ferguson started in all 59 games over two seasons at Augustana. Last season, he scored 20 or more points on 19 occasions.
“There is more length (at Division I),” Ferguson told reporters after the victory. “Over the summer, I took the weight room very seriously. Playing against high-level guys all summer prepared me for (this contest).”
Lance Taylor added 13 points while Jordan Pyke and Aaron McGee added 11 apiece for the Red Wolves.
Arkansas State squeezed out the victory despite substandard shooting — 35.7% from the field, 29.7% from 3-point range (11 of 37) and 43.5% from the free-throw line (10 of 23).
“We shot very poorly at the rim, we shot very poorly from the free-throw line, the three-point line and we found a way to beat a really good team, a really well-coached team,” Red Wolves coach Ryan Pannone said. “The reason why is we won the analytical battle of shots on goal. We were able to do that with the physical effort that these guys gave.”