2018 NBA Draft: Breaking down Trae Young’s battle with Collin Sexton

Trae Young had perhaps his toughest matchup of the entire season, ultimately losing to Collin Sexton on the road in Alabama.

As Trevon Duval has struggled, the best point guards have separated themselves. Collin Sexton and Trae Young are the alphas and it’s not particularly close. Ahead of the 2018 NBA Draft, we got the chance to see them go head-to-head in Alabama.

Heading into the matchup, the praise and higher draft stock definitely belonged to Young. Averaging nearly 29 points and 10 assists per game will do that. This surely didn’t go down well with the fiery Sexton. Before the jump, you could make an educated guess he was going to take this matchup very seriously. Even more so, he was going to take it personally.

Seconds into the game we saw him face-guarding Young and denying Oklahoma’s point guard the ball. Over the course of the game, Sexton went at Young. It was nothing dirty or anything of that nature, but it was a good test for Young. While he won’t get that treatment every night, as Lonzo Ball can attest, the NBA is a very physical league.

Sexton ended up getting the upper hand with both more points and the win. Alabama’s future lottery pick finished with 18 points, two assists and three rebounds. On the flip side, Young was held to 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting with five turnovers, though he did register seven assists and should have had more. While Sexton got the win, both prospects performed really well. Their weaknesses were on display, but their strengths shined brighter.

What we saw from Sexton

The first thing that jumped out was Sexton’s competitiveness. He went into this to prove he was better and came out with the win. Throughout the game, Sexton drove on Young, bumped him after baskets and got rough when the referees didn’t want to see or couldn’t see. Again, it wasn’t dirty and NBA scouts likely loved that aspect of his game.

Sexton did well to score against Young and dominate in transition. His ability to mostly limit a talent like Young speaks volumes of his two-way potential. Still, he continued a trend of poor shooting of late, hitting only one of four 3s. In addition, while he managed the game well, his passing was average, only coming up with two assists. He still looks very much the part of a score-first point guard. Some teams won’t mind, but others may want more of a facilitator.

What we saw from Young

While he scored just 17 points, Young did a great job of handling the pressure for the most part. After a slow start, he got more aggressive. He consistently was able to get into Alabama’s paint, a good sign for the NBA. If teams take away his shot, does he have the wiggle and burst to get into the lane? This game proved he has that in his wheelhouse.

For large periods of time, Youngn didn’t force things. Alabama was very aggressive so he used that pressure to get his teammates open looks. His cast is decent, but they’re not exactly NBA talent. With some better shooters, he likely leaves that game with 10 or 11 assists at least. One concern was his mere two free throw attempts. He’ll need to improve their and at finishing at the next level. Overall, though, he fared more than fine.

Next: 2017-18 Week 16 NBA Power Rankings

Conclusion

Sexton definitely showed more in the individual matchup, but it’s naive to say Young didn’t have a good outing. Young even caught Sexton off-balance and drilled a deep 3 at one point. There’s a very strong chance both these guys go in the top-10 and it’ll be well deserved.