Miami lands one of nation's top scorers as Stetson G Jalen Blackmon commits to the Hurricanes
It has been a busy offseason for the Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball program, and Sunday afternoon Canes head coach Jim Larrañaga and his staff landed their third transfer portal commitment as former Stetson guard Jalen Blackmon announced his pledge to Miami.
After a stellar junior campaign at Stetson, the 6-foot-3 junior from Marion, Indiana, chose the Hurricanes over Northwestern but also considered BYU, Cal, and Villanova.
He started his career at Grand Canyon, where he averaged 2.7 points in eight minutes per contest off the bench. Blackmon spent the last two seasons at Stetson, where he established himself as one of the nation’s best scorers.
During his junior campaign, Blackmon averaged 21.3 points per game, which was 10th best in the country last year, while shooting 42.8% from the field and just over 38% from three. As a sophomore, Blackmon averaged 15.4 points per game while shooting 41.4% from the field.
Blackmon will provide a much-needed boost for the Hurricanes on the offensive side of the ball as a proven scorer who can score from nearly anywhere on the floor at a high volume. In this year’s ASUN Conference Championship game, Blackmon helped the Hatters punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament after a 43-point performance as Stetson downed Austin Peay 94-91.
According to the On3 Transfer Portal Ranking, Blackmon, who is the son of former McDonald’s All-American James Blackmon Sr., who played at Kentucky, was the No. 46 overall prospect in the portal and the No. 4 combo guard.
Blackmon is now Miami’s third transfer portal commit, joining East Carolina transfer Brandon Johnson, who averaged 14 points and 8.6 rebounds per game this season, and former Virginia Tech center Lynn Kidd, who averaged 13.2 points and 6.5 rebounds while shooting 66.8 percent from the field, which was the fourth highest in the country this past season.
