Tre Johnson, several Alabama players shine in Crimson Tide's win over Texas

Despite a disastrous showing from the Texas Longhorns defense last night, freshman sensation Tre Johnson continued to prove why he is a high-lotto talent in the 2025 NBA Draft. In a 103-80 loss where the Crimson Tide simply could not miss from beyond the arc, shooting 59% (17-for-29), Johnson stayed engaged despite the score, recording 24 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds on 9-for17 from the field and 4-for-8 from three.

His game last night was a bit of a microcosm of the Texas season – a fantastic performance in a loss to a better team. With Alabama's status as top-2 in the nation, as opposed to an unranked Longhorns squad, it's not a surprise that one player was not able to turn the result in his favor. Alabama is a highly talented roster led by a coach with a great offensive mind, and he constantly finds was to get his players in position to score.

The Crimson Tide have a group of NBA prospects as well, led in draft-ability by freshman point guard Labaron Philon (15 points, six rebounds, four assists on 6-for-10 overall, 3-for-5 from three) , with whom Tre Johnson shared a back court at Link Prep last season. Other players on NBA teams' radars are power forward Jarin Stevenson (22 points, four rebounds, 7-for-8 from the field, 4-for-5 from three), whose inconsistent range was uncharacteristically pinpoint accurate on the evening. Another prospect in senior guard Mark Sears also added 18 points and three assists on 5-for-11 from the field and 6-for-6 from the line.

Alabama did what they do on offense – they turned good paint touches into open threes, averaging a blistering 1.54 points per possession. They finished with five players in double figures, all of whom scored over 13, and four of whom shot at least 50% from distance. For a Texas team that struggles to keep guards out of the lane, the Crimson Tide were an absolute nightmare matchup, reflected by the fact that they scored over 100 points and probably could have scored even more.

The silver lining for Johnson is that he will likely get significantly more help from his NBA teammates than his collegiate ones, and with the way this Texas team is built, he will have an easier time getting open looks without having to completely create his own offense from scratch on nearly every possession. He will likely go in the top 10 of the NBA Draft this summer, hopefully to a team with some skill at lead initiator so that he gets some help.

Want to join the discussion? Like Draft Digest on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest NBA Draft news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.