Collin Sexton dragged Alabama off the bubble and into the 2018 NCAA tournament with his performance in last week’s SEC tourney. He hit countless clutch shots. He delivered an array of defensive highlights. Before getting into all of that, though, it’s worth revisiting his almost alley-oop.
With about three and a half minutes left in the Crimson Tide’s conference semifinal matchup with Kentucky on Saturday, Sexton brought the ball up the floor and picked up his dribble just inside the 3-point arc. A second earlier, it looked as if he’d have an open path to the basket, but it vanished, swallowed up by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander—Kentucky’s best wing defender and a prospective NBA lottery pick. Trapped without many options, Sexton began pivoting, looking for help. Then the freshman point guard realized he’d have to make something happen, so he turned toward the rim and launched a pass to himself off the glass.
It didn’t work. Gilgeous-Alexander deflected the ball away before Sexton could finish the highlight he wanted. But the fact that he even attempted the move told fans all they needed to know about the 6-foot-3 guard. Sexton doesn’t just want to beat you; he wants to do it in style. More than that, there isn’t anything on the court that he thinks he can’t do.
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Alabama (19-15) is where it is this week primarily because of the mind-set of its ultratalented freshman. Last Thursday, Sexton downed Texas A&M, rescuing the Tide’s NCAA tournament hopes with a buzzer-beating finger roll to cap a 27-point performance. A day later he had a 31-point, seven-rebound showing in a 81-63 rout of in-state rival and regular-season SEC champion Auburn. And though the Tide ran out of steam in an 86-63 loss to Kentucky, Sexton showed out, racking up 21 points, five rebounds, and three assists.
Now, as the ninth-seeded Crimson Tide prepare for their first-round clash against Virginia Tech on Thursday, their chances of making a run rely on the play of the most highly touted basketball prospect to ever call Tuscaloosa home. Everything rides on Collin Sexton.
Sexton made waves when he committed to Alabama in November 2016. Going into that summer, he was unranked by the major scouting services. By the time he announced his decision, he’d emerged as a top-10 national recruit. After receiving a late invitation to try out for the USA Basketball U17 Team, he spent hours in the gym, pushing himself to his limits. That July, he led the team to the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship, taking tournament MVP honors despite coming off the bench. And by the end of that circuit, he set the Nike EYBL single-season scoring record, averaging 31.7 points per game. Despite fielding offers from blue-blood programs like Kansas, Florida, and North Carolina, Sexton committed to Alabama—the first school that made an offer to him and the one he visited five times.
It didn’t take long for Sexton to show Bama fans how lucky they were to have him. On November 25, he nearly toppled then-14th-ranked Minnesota on his own. After the entire Crimson Tide bench was ejected as the result of a scuffle, another Alabama player fouled out, and yet another exited with an injury; only Sexton and two other members of the Tide remained available. For nearly 11 minutes, they played a full-strength Gophers team with only three guys, and they almost won. Sexton finished with an astonishing 40 points—17 of which came while playing three-on-five.
Of course, that’s the rub with this Bama team: It’s not just that Sexton is at his best when he tries to do it all. It’s that if he doesn’t, Alabama is virtually certain to lose. Without him, the Tide would be a mediocre team, and head coach Avery Johnson could be on the hot seat. With him, the Tide have the chance to turn heads as they survive and advance.
In fact, for all the hype and spotlight surrounding Oklahoma’s Trae Young and the remarkable campaign he’s put together, Sexton might be the best guard in the entire country. He has less offensive talent around him than Young does at Oklahoma (which is saying something), and yet he’s somehow managed to be a more efficient scorer. Sexton is averaging 19 points per game on 13 shots per game; Young is averaging 27 on 19. Both have usage rates above 32 percent, are reliable free throw shooters, and can score from nearly anywhere on the floor. But it’s Sexton who has put his team in a better position to win games. He takes better care of the ball (averaging half as many turnovers as Young does per contest) and plays even more strongly against top competition than he does against weaker teams.
Sexton distinguishes himself on the defensive end. He uses his 6-foot-7 wingspan to hound opponents and cut off passing lanes. No freshman guard in the country who scores as much as Sexton contributes more on that side of the ball. Playing standout defense for a team ranked 13th in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom, is difficult enough. Doing it while carrying the offensive load is outrageous. Yet with each poked pass or disrupted drive, Sexton adds to his legacy.
Still, his affinity for buckets is what strikes the most fear into opponents’ hearts. Even though Kentucky held a 10-point halftime lead on Saturday, Sexton was the first thing on Wildcats head coach John Calipari’s mind at the break. Before heading to the locker room, he told ESPN: “Collin is not Superman. Now he may come out and get 30 on us with me saying that.”
While Kentucky managed to keep Sexton at bay, every time he touched the ball, it seemed as if he was about to unfurl his cape.
In years past, an aggressive, hyperathletic point guard might have slipped down many NBA draft boards as teams focused on players who fit the prototypical models at their positions. But given the series of dominant performances that Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell has unleashed this season, it seems unlikely that front offices will let another potential star slip.
That’s why Sexton is such a point of intrigue for those interested in the pro game heading into this year’s tournament. Mock drafts have him projected as high as seventh overall and as low as 14th, and while some teams may rate him higher than others, the consensus remains the same: This kid can score. If defenders sag off of him, he’s more than capable of draining shots from deep. If they play him tight, he’s strong enough to blow by them and crafty enough to finish at the rim. And if they make a mistake? He’ll be ready to turn it into a did-you-see-that highlight.
There will be more talented shooters in the 2018 draft, like Young, or better defenders, like Gilgeous-Alexander. But no player in the country brings the style or the pound-for-pound strength of Sexton. Whether he’s sizing up defenders or engaging in staring contests, Sexton refuses to lose. And it feels like a lock that he’ll soon take that with him to the next level.
All of that can wait, though. For now, what matters is that every game from here on out could be Sexton’s last as a college player. Winning a first-round matchup with Virginia Tech would surpass most people’s expectations for this erratic Bama squad. But there’s a recipe for teams with strong defenses and heroic point guards pushing deep into March. If the Tide’s legion of defensive workhorses can keep up their effort, there won’t a team in the Big Dance that will look forward to facing Alabama.
And if Sexton heats up? Well, he’s never been reluctant to try to accomplish great things by himself in the past.
