Ohio State vs Texas Game Notes

In a prospect-filled matchup, projected 2025 NBA Draft lottery pick Tre Johnson shined bright.

Tre Johnson showed his high-level offensive arsenal in his college debut. The five star freshman showcased jump shooting in a variety of ways, some defensive flashes, and capable playmaking while being able to play fast. Johnson finished with 29 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals, one block, and one turnover on 10-of-20 shooting, including 5-of-10 from three and five free throw attempts. Let’s take a look at what Tre did well, and what he needs to improve going forward:

Right away, Johnson’s movement shooting pops off the screen. He is a threat coming off of screens, and should be a coach’s dream to draw up plays on BLOBs and SLOBs. With such a quick shot, combined with outstanding footwork to adapt to speed, Johnson’s jumper can be lethal in a variety of ways, like we saw on Monday night. In high school at Link Academy, Johnson was able to attack as a shooter off the dribble, which he didn’t get to show much of Monday night. This leaves a whole other element to Johnson’s game left to be shown in future games—which should continue to increase the excitement for him as a scorer.

While Johnson is a good movement shooter, he needs to reduce his leg kick to keep control of his base. Otherwise, his mechanics are good and should scale up.

At the end of the above clip, Johnson’s worst shot of the night is shown: a forced turnaround jumper 10 seconds into the clock. Texas wants to play fast, but smart when going quickly. Instead of going for the shot, he should have reset the possession and even tried to re-post and attack the holes of the defense.

Defensively, Johnson was mostly good, being able to disrupt plays and stay in front of the drive.

On the three plays below, we first see an outstandingly disruptive play on the ball to shut down the drive, and ultimately leading to a hyped Tre Johnson. On the second play, Johnson is getting yelled at by the coaches to turn around and recognize his man, which is not a good look, but the quick recovery to force an inbounds via deflection is promising. Lastly, Johnson brings a nice closeout and overall defense to beat the counter, but loses the possession when he goes too hard at the defender, leading to a shooting foul. These two mistakes likely get eliminated with time and more practice in learning the defensive system, but they will need to be monitored in the coming games to see if this is an inherent issue or workable pain point.

Johnson also did damage as a playmaker, racking up four assists. In high school, Johnson was a de facto point guard, accidentally running the offense quite more than he was expected to. The results were good given how he was often thrown into the fire, and his college debut didn’t seem to look much different. Johnson caused damage both in the halfcourt out of drives and in transition. Johnson will surely make his bigs better in the NBA, which is a valuable trait for an off-guard to have.

Overall, Johnson showcased strong jump shooting ability, playmaking, and defensive flashes. He will still need to prove he can easily get to the rim, something that was scrutinized about his game in the offseason. His shooting is an NBA ready skill, and has been for years, and he adds lots of secondary skills to go along with an elite skill. Look for Johnson to remain in the lottery across consensus boards all year.

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Quick Hitters

• Micah Parrish could be a Portsmouth candidate come April as a fifth year senior. His shot looks better than the outlier 29% from 3 last year at San Diego State, and I was impressed with his passing on the move. As a 6’6 shooter with the potential to grow as a playmaker this season, Parrish could easily be someone who rises onto radars as a deep cut, or simply even for overseas teams.

• Devin Royal continues to be my favorite sleeper in the country. He’s slimmed down, his shot looked better, and he is a great defensive mind who rarely misses rotations and quickly rotates into place. His motor is nonstop too, and at 6'6”/6’7”, he could be successfully switchable.

• John Mobley’s shot-making with such gravity is going to be very fun to watch throughout the year. Mobley appears to be a product of a generation of Steph Curry’s impact on the game, with the likes of Trae Young’s deep shot-making changing how players train as scorers. Mobley isn’t either of those players, but he can absolutely create gravity once he crosses into the halfcourt. How he fares on defense will matter for his stock as well, but he is limited given his size.

• Bruce Thornton looks more polished right off the bat than he did at the end of last season. Maybe part of that is meshing with the coaching staff that was only interim when he last played, or maybe it was natural development along with a talent improvement on the roster. Regardless, he was unpredictable getting downhill and more methodical with the ball in his hands which should make NBA scouts happy.