X in box for top outing for Johnson vs. UNC
It was a scene that, as recently as two months ago, would have felt like a fever dream for the Pitt men’s basketball program and its fans, as boundlessly optimistic as it was joyous.
Against North Carolina, Xavier Johnson, a Panthers standout guard coming off an All-ACC freshman season, scored a teamhigh 20 points and had six assists to just two turnovers as the
Panthers throttled the Tar Heels, leading for 37:32 of a possible 40 minutes and winning by 14.
The reality of Pitt’s 66-52 victory Saturday wasn’t quite as triumphant or grandiose. North Carolina’s record fell to 8-9 after the loss, further reinforcing the thought that this is one of the program’s worst teams in the past 60
years. Johnson, more than halfway through the regular season, has struggled to live up to some of the rosier projections for what he could become as a sophomore.
Nonetheless, his performance against even a weakened Tar Heels team was encouraging, ranking as one of his better games this season.
In the win, Johnson was smart and decisive offensively while playing with an intensity and aggression defensively that helped his team not only put the proverbial clamps on the Tar Heels, but also helped set up good opportunities in transition for what has been a mediocre offense. It was, in some respects, the embodiment of what a once-projected second-round NBA draft pick would look like in a mid-January conference game.
“I thought he was terrific,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said after the game. “I thought he created shots for others, which led to shots for himself, plays for himself. Especially in the first half, he was able to get in the paint. He was able to get downhill. I thought he made terrific decisions. I thought the ball was just moving in the first half. It was crisp. We really shared it. I thought a big reason for that was because of him. The pace he played at was really good.”
For a player who has had difficulty cutting down on the turnovers that regularly plagued him as a freshman (due in some part to his inexperience), Johnson excelled Saturday by forcing very little, instead operating well in the flow of the game by making plays that were simple but wise. After entering the game with 83 turnovers to 65 assists, that’s a helpful step.
It was evidenced by plays like his second assist of the outing. About nine minutes into the game, Johnson had the ball in transition, with two North Carolina defenders in front of him and another to his side. Rather that trying to force his way through them or lobbing up what might have been an illadvised alley-oop attempt to teammate Au’Diese Toney, Johnson drove at the defense long enough to present the threat of a drive and prevent the Tar Heels from spreading out too much, only to kick it to his left to an open Ryan Murphy in the corner, who buried a 3pointer to put Pitt up by 11 (21-10).
Other decisions, while still smart, were slightly more spectacular. In the opening three minutes, Johnson drove to the basket with his defender, Brandon Robinson, at his right hip. Once near the basket, Johnson jumped, initially looking like he was going to try to hoist it over Robinson and Armando Bacot. Instead, in mid-air, he turned his body and tossed it to Eric Hamilton, who, with Bacot drawn away from him, made an open layup.
Much like his team, Johnson tailed off offensively as the game progressed, missing his final three shots to finish 4 of 11 from the field, but his 14 first-half points helped build a 20-point halftime cushion that proved to be insurmountable. He was more assertive, as well, finishing the game with 12 freethrow attempts (of which he made 10), a season high for a player who is attempting two fewer free throws per game than he did a season ago, when he routinely got to the line and helped his transition to college basketball be that much smoother.
Though aspects of Johnson’s sophomore season have been disappointing, his most recent game was a gentle reminder that parts of his game have improved from last season, when he dazzled so many on his way to setting the program’s singleseason freshman scoring record. His scoring average is down more than 3.0 points per game, but he has improved his 3-point percentage by three points, he is averaging more assists per game while controlling the ball much less than he did last season, and his assist rate ranks 51st among all Division I players.
In the team’s first 16 games, Johnson had encountered some problems defensively, as well, where he wasn’t as strong as he was as a freshman. Two days before the North Carolina win, he met with assistant coach Jason Capel, who told him he needed to get back to being the unrelenting on-ball defender he was previously, someone who was a constant pest for the player he was assigned to guard.
Against the Tar Heels, he and many of his teammates were just that, constantly playing right up on opponents and working hard to deny even routine passes more than 30 feet from the basket. Johnson finished the day with two steals, neither of which led to points on the other end, but his most eyebrow-raising play was his lone block. In the first half, Bacot was lobbed a pass near the basket, having already spun off his shorter defender, 6-foot-5 Pitt freshman Gerald Drumgoole. As Bacot went up for the layup, Johnson came in from his right and timed his leap perfectly to swat Bacot’s shot. The ball was recovered by North Carolina, but the sequence itself was a sight — a 6-3 guard using every inch of his height and every bit of his athleticism to block a 6-10 opponent’s shot.
He was, in every sense of the word, a pest.
“That’s what I tried to do today,” Johnson said. “We saw the result.”
If his team wants to achieve some of the things it hoped to at the beginning of the season, he’ll have to continue to be one.