Avery Johnson, Players Preview Kennesaw State Season Opener [VIDEOS]

Kennesaw State at Alabama

When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Coleman Coliseum
Records (in 2014-15): Alabama 19-15, 8-10 SEC; Kennesaw State 10-22, 4-10 A-SUN
TV: SEC Network+ (Play-by-play: Mick Gillispie, color analyst: Rick Moody)
Radio: 95.3 The Bear (Play-by-play: Chris Stewart, color analyst Bryan Passink)

Officially, a new era of Alabama basketball finally gets underway Friday night.

The Crimson Tide hosts Kennesaw State in its season opener and, notably, it will mark the first regular-season game played under new coach Avery Johnson.

"It's just extremely gratifying for me, knowing that I'm personally going to be introduced as the new head men's basketball coach officially tomorrow night," Johnson said. "Coach Avery's era's going to start, and hopefully it'll be fast and furious and hopefully we'll be able to make some shots an take advantage of some situations and hopefully our fans will see that we're laying the foundation and trying to get the program jump-started and headed in the right direction."

Around 3 p.m. Thursday, Johnson tweeted that the game was 2,000 tickets away from a sellout.

In the videos below, you can watch Johnson discuss the upcoming matchup against the Owls and what he expects out of his own team heading into the game. Last week, Johnson tinkered with the team's lineup and rotation in its lone exhibition game, an 87-65 win over Trevecca Nazarene at Coleman Coliseum.

He also gives an anecdote on his first-ever head coaching experience, following Don Nelson's resignation with the Dallas Mavericks near the end of the 2004-05 NBA season, as well as some thoughts on Ar'Mond Davis and Braxton Key, who signed their national letter of intents to play at Alabama on Wednesday.