Jalen Blackmon Stats: Stetson Star Comes Up Big
Junior Guard Leads Hatters to First NCAA Tournament

Entering the 2023-24 college basketball season, the Stetson Hatters were one of 45 NCAA Div. 1 college basketball teams to have never played in the NCAA Tournament. The list dropped to 44 teams on Sunday after Stetson won the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
Stetson’s Jalen Blackmon bounced back from a subpar game in the ASUN semifinals to score a career-high 43 points to lead the Hatters to victory. The Jalen Blackmon stats show he did more than score in the game. He was active on the boards and finding his teammates.
The Hatters were just a few seconds away from missing the tournament final. If not for some late-game heroics by Stephan Swenson, who made two 3-pointers in the final 21 seconds, Stetson would have been sent home. Instead, the Hatters pulled out an 88-87 victory over Jacksonville to reach the championship game.
Blackmon struggled in the game, going 2 for 12 from the field but 8 of 9 at the foul line. Of his 12 points, four were in the final minute to help complete a comeback after Jacksonville led 77-67 with 4:53 left. Swenson’s 3-pointer with four seconds remaining turned out to be the winning points.
Few people had Stetson to win the ASUN. The NCAAB betting odds had the Hatters +900 to win the regular season title. Despite being the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, Stetson was No. 3 in the betting odds. Most people had Eastern Kentucky or Lipscomb winning the tournament.
Blackmon and his teammates came up big when it mattered. The Hatters will be one of the lower teams in the NCAAB rankings to appear in the NCAA Tournament. The KenPom ratings have Stetson No. 214. The NCAAB matchups will likely see the Hatters playing a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the first round.
Marion High School
Blackmon was a four-star recruit coming out of Marion High School in Marion, Indiana. The Jalen Blackmon stats show he averaged 33.5 points per game as a senior and 27.3 points per game overall. He broke the school’s scoring record set by his father and scored a career-high 55 points in his final high school game.
Early College Career
Blackmon signed with Grand Canyon University coming out of high school, but didn’t see much playing time as a freshman. The Jalen Blackmon stats show he played eight minutes a game and got into 23 of the team’s 31 games. He averaged 2.7 points per game.
Blackmon made the move to Stetson for his sophomore year and it paid immediate dividends. He averaged 15.4 points per game and earned All-ASUN First Team and ASUN Newcomer of the Year honors. Switching college basketball teams was a smart move for Blackmon.
NCAA Berth For Hatters
Blackmon’s junior season saw him average 21.5 points per game, but no game was bigger than the ASUN Conference final. Blackmon was 12 for 22 from the field, including 5 for 9 from 3-point range, and 14 of 17 from the foul line.
He also finished the game with five rebounds and three assists. It was his scoring down the stretch, however, that will remembered by the Stetson faithful.
After Austin Peay tied the game, Blackmon’s layup and free throw gave Stetson and 87-84 lead with 1:11 remaining in the game. Two more free throws with 28 seconds left pushed the Stetson lead to five, but the Governors pulled made it 92-91 with six seconds remaining.
Blackmon sank two more foul shots with four seconds left to account for the 94-91 final score.
For NCAAB betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.