After a record-breaking college career, UMHB MBB alum Josiah Johnson is ready to begin pro career in Denmark

BELTON, Texas—Josiah Johnson is ready for the next stage of his basketball career. 

It was basketball, and his innate scoring ability, that took him from Big Sandy, Texas (pop. 1,286) to Belton four years ago, after a brief stint at Southern Nazarene University. And now, coming off a collegiate career in which he rewrote the UMHB record books, basketball is the vehicle taking him from Belton to the other side of the world. 

Johnson inked his first professional contract two weeks ago. Holbaek, Denmark is his next destination. For the 2024-25 season, Johnson will take the floor in Europe, playing for EBS Holbaek-Stenhus, a team in Denmark’s top pro league. It marks the second straight year in which UMHB men’s basketball has sent a graduating player to a pro team overseas, as Ty Prince signed with Istogu of the Kosovo Superliga last October. 

“It’s very fulfilling,” Johnson told True To The Cru Wednesday. “I give all my thanks to God. Over the years, through all the practice, it has led to an opportunity to be a pro. We’ll see where things go. Obviously, there’s higher levels [within pro basketball in Europe] that you can get to, but just to go overseas and see different things, to see the world, I think it’ll be a great opportunity for me. I’m looking forward to it.” 

Few in UMHB men’s basketball history have accomplished what Johnson did across the board in his five years in Belton, evidenced by the frequency of his name in The Cru’s updated record book. He leaves as the program’s all-time leading scorer, with 2,559 career points, the first Crusader to eclipse 2,000. With 273 career steals, Johnson also holds the top spot in that category, having tallied 92 more than James Allen’s 181 steals, which ranks second. His 715 career rebounds is second all-time. So are his 332 career assists. He also played the most minutes of any player in UMHB’s D-III era, with 3,422. Johnson also holds career records for field goals made, 3-pointers made, and free throws made, all of which he surpassed by a sizable margin. 

You would be hard-pressed to find a player in UMHB men’s hoops’ illustrious history who impacted the game, especially from an offensive standpoint, like Johnson did. And it should be noted that while the additional year of eligibility granted to D-III players because of the Covid pandemic gave several standouts a fifth season to break records, that wasn’t the case with Johnson. He did use his fifth year of eligibility, but he only played four seasons at UMHB, meaning every record he set, he did so in the same amount of time as the record-holders before him. And yet, his records stand out significantly. 

Though the 2020-21 season was limited to just 20 games, as compared to the standard 25-game regular season played by UMHB from 2021-2024, Johnson recorded the second-most points in a single season (586). In fact, it was the most points scored in a season by a UMHB player since 2001, when Robert Moore tallied 720. Over the next three years, Johnson set three more high-scoring marks, and leaves UMHB with four of the top five single-season point totals. Three of the top four points-per-game (PPG) averages in program history also belong to Johnson. 

Then there were the individual moments that stand out. In a 105-76 victory over Concordia on Feb. 27, 2021, he put up 53 points—two points shy of the program record—on a 21-of-30 shooting performance. How about the time he scored 31 and connected on a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to defeat LeTourneau in Longview? And who can forget the buzzer-beater to beat ETBU in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament? That 3-pointer, on UMHB’s home court, directly in front of the Crusader bench, will forever be a historic moment in the program’s history. That shot sent The Cru to the second weekend of the national tournament for the second-straight season. 

“I really matured [during my time at UMHB],” Johnson said, looking back. “As far as my skill set, if you practice and practice, you’re going to get better. But it was really growing in my maturity, taking defense more seriously, and becoming a better overall player. The game kind of slowed down as I watched more film. I became a smarter player.”

That basketball IQ, combined with his athleticism, will serve Johnson well as he makes the jump to the professional level, and to the European style of basketball. Traditionally, European teams place immense emphasis on ball movement and passing to open up quality shots, rather than having their players go one-on-one against defenders. While Johnson had plenty of moments at UMHB in which he battled in those one-on-one matchups, he also demonstrated an ability to distribute the ball. In three of his four seasons in Belton, he averaged at least 3.0 assists/game, and made a significant jump from 2.7 APG to 3.5 APG—the latter of which was a career-high—from 2022-23 to 2023-24. His ability to pass the ball well, in addition to his shooting skill set, is likely to make Johnson a serious offensive threat in Denmark’s pro league. 

“I know I have the talent, as far as having the ability to make difficult passes and things of that nature,” Johnson noted. “But it was more of me making the simple plays. Making simple plays wins a lot of games, and I feel like, especially at the end of last year, we started finding a rhythm, and I think that’s why we started winning more games. We were making the simple plays and doing the right things on defense.”

As far as defense goes, that will be important at the next level, too. While Johnson’s scoring capability wowed crowds in nearly every gym he played in during his time at UMHB, his defensive approach significantly—and steadily—improved as well. Though he came to Belton with some defensive flaws, Johnson left as the program’s all-time leader in steals. It didn’t happen overnight, but he became a defender Carroll could count on as his college career progressed. 

“Coach Carroll was a big part of that,” Johnson said of his defensive improvement. “[Defense isn’t] all about running around, trying to play crazy. It starts with being in a stance, and putting your hands out. And after that, it’s about having the athletic ability, and as I said before, watching film to pick up on players’ tendencies. It ties into each other. 

“With defense, a split-second here or a split-second there can be the difference between somebody getting by me and me picking up a blocking foul or actually staying in front of them. The biggest stride I’ve made, I think, is just being in a stance and being ready to go, before I actually need to go.”

Johnson’s time at UMHB helped mold the playmaker he is today, and certainly prepared him for the rookie season that lies ahead. He leaves the United States on August 8, bound for Denmark, and a new team eight time zones away from his alma mater. His first preseason as a pro begins later that week. As Johnson noted recently, “I’ll get over there and go right to playing.”

His journey to this point has been an incredible one. Big Sandy, Texas is generally little more than a dot on a map in Northeast Texas, situated to the west of Longview and Gladewater and just north of the Sabine River. As a high school senior, he led Big Sandy High to a 25-7 record and a Regional Quarterfinal appearance, en route to being named the 2019 TABC 2A Player of the Year. He became the ASC Male Athlete of the Year in 2021, and an All-American on three straight occasions. Now, he’s a pro, headed for Europe. 

It hasn’t always been an easy road, but Johnson’s story is evidence that a combination of talent and relentless resilience can yield tremendous opportunity. And perhaps his journey from Big Sandy to Holbaek, Denmark, from 2A high school hoops to a pro league overseas, might serve to inspire other young players growing up in small Texas towns. 

“I hope they look at things in that light, especially being that I’m not even that tall. I’m a 6-foot guy that has just played a lot of basketball. I do hope it impacts the people in the area that I come from. You have to love the game. You can’t really look at it as, ‘I have to wake up and now go to the gym.’ It has to be in your heart that you just really want to play basketball, and enjoy shooting the ball in the rim. Some kids do and some kids don’t. But hopefully [my story] does impact them in the right way.”