London Jemison Goes 7-for-7 as No. 18 Alabama Drills 24 Threes in 109-68 Rout of Oakland

London Jemison took seven shots on Monday night at Coleman Coliseum and made all seven. Six of them came from behind the arc. That perfect 20-point line in 17 minutes was the loudest note in a night that turned into a full-blown shooting exhibition, as No. 18 Alabama buried 24 three-pointers and ran Oakland out of Tuscaloosa 109-68.

Three games into the season, the Crimson Tide have scored 96, 101 and now 109 points. This was the first one that actually looked like the Nate Oats blueprint, though. Alabama shot 63 percent from the field, 24-of-46 from three and handed out 30 assists on 39 made baskets. The Tide are 3-0 heading into a Friday home date with Seton Hall. Oakland falls to 0-4, all four of those losses coming on the road.

A Brief Hello, Then a Blowout

For about 90 seconds, Oakland looked like it had come to play. Amari Allen opened the scoring with a three off an Aden Holloway feed, and the Golden Grizzlies answered with a Chris Fields Jr. layup and a three-point play from Nassim Mashhour to tie it at 5 with 18:34 left in the first half.

That was the last time the scoreboard was level. Allen buried another three on the next trip, accounting for six of Alabama's first eight points. From there the Tide simply kept firing. Alabama made 20 of its 30 first-half shots and went 11-of-21 from deep, at one stretch shooting better than 70 percent from the field, while Oakland made just 8 of 33. The only thing keeping the Grizzlies within shouting distance was the free throw line, where they went 11-of-13 before the break. Holloway capped the half with two threes in the final two minutes, and the halftime number was a cartoonish 56-29.

Oakland did land one punch after the break. The Grizzlies scored nine straight points to get within 75-48 with 12:11 to play, which is about as close to a run as this game produced. Alabama shut that door quickly. Freshman Jaxon Richardson, son of former NBA player Jason Richardson, got Coleman Coliseum on its feet by finishing an alley-oop from fellow freshman Anderson Diaz, and Tarris Bouie's three with 4:51 left was Alabama's 21st of the night and made it 98-58. Diaz then hit three more threes in the final two minutes. Alabama led for 98 percent of the game by ESPN's count, Oakland never led, and the 41-point final margin was also the largest lead of the night. The lead was still growing when the horn sounded in front of 11,100 fans.

Jemison Could Not Miss

Jemison deserves the top of this story. After a 3-of-10 night against Arkansas State on Friday, Jemison was flawless. Seven field goal attempts, seven makes, six of them threes, plus three rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block. That is not a hot streak so much as a statement about shot selection. Jemison took what Oakland's defense gave, and Oakland kept giving it.

The rest of Alabama's starters were nearly as efficient. Allen, named SEC Player of the Week earlier on Monday, followed Friday's triple-double with 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting, 3-of-4 from deep, plus six assists and zero turnovers in 19 minutes. Brandon Garrison went 4-of-4 for nine points and blocked two shots. Drew Fielder added eight points, four rebounds and three assists.

Holloway Is Back

This was Aden Holloway's first game of the regular season. The guard had served a five-game suspension that ABC 33/40 reported would end after Friday's Arkansas State game, with Monday's Oakland game circled as the return date. Holloway walked right back into the starting lineup and played like someone who had been waiting a long time to shoot a basketball in front of a crowd.

Holloway finished with 12 points, all of them on four made threes in eight attempts, along with two rebounds and two assists in 21 minutes. The assist on Allen's opening three was a nice touch for a player whose return was the biggest storyline in the building before tip. The Associated Press noted the charges tied to Holloway's March arrest were later dismissed.

The numbers matter beyond one night. Before Monday, Alabama was 25-of-81 from three through two games, a 31 percent clip that does not cut it in an offense built on spacing. Add a gunner like Holloway to the floor, and suddenly defenders cannot help off anyone. Jemison's open looks, Allen's open looks and Holloway's own pull-ups all feed each other. One game against an 0-3 Horizon League team proves nothing about February, but this is exactly the version of the Tide that Oats has been waiting on.

The Numbers Behind the Rout

The efficiency was absurd. Alabama made 15 of its 16 two-point attempts, which means nearly every trip inside the arc ended in a bucket and nearly every miss came from deep. The Tide committed just 12 turnovers, forced 15, and scored 13 points off those Oakland giveaways. Alabama also blocked 10 shots. Oakland blocked none.

The bench pitched in 46 points. Tarris Bouie scored 10, Keitenn Bristow went 4-of-4 for nine points with three blocks, and Diaz knocked down 3-of-4 threes for nine points to go with four assists and three steals. Qayden Samuels added eight, Jaxon Richardson five, and Cole Cloer chipped in five points and a team-high six rebounds, although Cloer's shooting stroke is still a work in progress at 2-of-7.

There is one stat that should bug Oats a little. Oakland outrebounded Alabama 37-31 and grabbed 21 offensive rebounds, and the Golden Grizzlies won the points in the paint battle 38-30. Fields was a problem on the glass all night with seven offensive boards. Against an SEC frontcourt, those second chances will not end in a 41-point win.

The free throw line was nearly irrelevant for the Tide, a sharp turn from Friday. Alabama went 7-of-8 at the stripe after shooting 43 free throws against Arkansas State. Oakland was 19-of-25.

Oakland's Long Road Trip

Oakland has opened the season with four straight road games against high-major and mid-major opponents, losing at Michigan 84-68, at Stanford 81-63, at UC Santa Barbara 90-67 and now at Alabama.

The bright spots were familiar names. Mashhour scored a team-high 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting, made two of Oakland's three threes and went 6-of-6 at the line, though six turnovers took some shine off the night. Fields posted a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds, seven of them offensive, in 36 minutes. Camden Thompson gave the Grizzlies a spark off the bench with nine points and five offensive rebounds in 21 minutes, and Belal El Shakery added eight.

The shooting was the problem. Oakland made 3-of-18 from three and 23-of-66 overall, 35 percent from the field. The Grizzlies did a lot of the dirty work, crashing the glass and getting to the line, but against a team making half of its threes, effort plays only keep the score from getting worse.

Oakland visited Tuscaloosa back in November 2021 and lost 86-59 to a ranked Alabama team. This one was bigger. The Grizzlies get no break, either. Next up is a trip to Boise State on Wednesday, Nov. 11, the fifth road game of the season before a home date with Northern Iowa on Saturday.

What It Means

For Alabama, the takeaway is simple. When the threes fall, this team can bury anybody. The size is there with Garrison and Bristow protecting the rim, Allen is a do-everything star, and now Holloway is back to give the perimeter some teeth. The concern from the first two games was that Alabama could not make shots. On Monday the Tide made 24 threes, and seven different players made at least two.

The rebounding is the part to watch. Giving up 21 offensive boards to a Horizon League team is the kind of number Oats will put on the screen in film, even after a 41-point win.

The schedule ramps up quickly. Seton Hall visits Coleman Coliseum on Friday, Nov. 13, Kennesaw State comes in next week, and then a neutral-site meeting with Baylor is waiting on Nov. 24. The full box score (opens in a new tab) is at ESPN. Undrafted also covered Alabama's Amari Allen triple-double against Arkansas State, the Tide's season-opening win over Sam Houston, and Oakland's opener at Michigan.

Sources: ESPN, The Associated Press, ABC 33/40, Alabama Athletics, CBS Sports. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Three games in, Alabama finally looked like Alabama. Jemison went perfect, Holloway came home, and the nets at Coleman Coliseum got a workout they will not soon forget.

Photo: Crimson Tide Photos/UA Athletics (file photo).