Jasper Johnson was all smiles after scoring 22 points against North Carolina Central. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Because he’s a former college basketball player, ESPN/SEC Network analyst Daymeon Fishback knows what the kind of game freshman Jasper Johnson had Tuesday night could mean for his future.
“Jasper was great. He came out and was really aggressive and that’s when he was at his best. As a freshman, games like that are a confidence booster and definitely helps out quite a bit for the rest of the season,” Fishback said after Kentucky’s 103-67 victory over North Carolina Central. “You are looking at a five-star prospect. He knows what Big Blue Nation is all about. I want to see if he can continue doing that going forward.”
Johnson had a career-high 22 points in only 19 minutes. He was 6-for-10 from the field, including 2-for-4 from 3. He also went 8-for-8 at the foul line and was fouled twice on 3-point attempts. Johnson even added two rebounds and two assists. More importantly, he did not have a turnover in his 19 minutes.
“I like a lot of things that Jasper did tonight,” UK Radio Network analyst Jack Givens said. “He is never going to have trouble finding a shot because he knows how to get them. I like how he penetrated and dished the ball out to other folks. That is Jasper’s game. He played kind of like he plays. When you are making shots, it looks good. I was very happy to see him making shots and getting that smile on his face.”
Jasper came to UK known for his shooting ability and was also billed as a potential “superstar” by coach Mark Pope. However, playing limited minutes had seemed to make it difficult for him to get into a shooting rhythm. He has also had to learn how to play more point guard due to the injury to starting point guard Jaland Lowe.
Johnson told Givens he had been watching more film with the UK coaching staff and learning from Lowe and Denzel Aberdeen, who has been UK’s starting point guard with Lowe out with the shoulder injury.
“Coach (Mark) Pope always wants me to be decisive and making plays for others comes with it,” Johnson said.
Givens likes the connection Johnson has with 7-foot freshman center Malachi Moreno, another Kentuckian. Johnson said the two have known each other for as long as he can remember.
“We’ve had plenty of conversations.In the offseason we worked out a lot together,” Johnson told Givens on the postgame radio show. “We have just had that relationship our whole lives. On the court it is not something we think about. It’s just second nature. Our games complement each other.”
SEC Network analyst Richard Hendrix, a former Alabama player, watched Johnson making shots in Rupp Arena and flowing with the offense.
“Johnson got in a groove and showed really good poise. The great pace he has played with has allowed him to get open looks and stroke it,” Hendrix said. “It was a very efficient shooting performance by Jasper Johnson. He has been really good.”
The freshman guard credited Aberdeen, a Florida transfer, for pushing him daily in practice.
“Denzel is a very high level competitor. He won a national championship last year. Every day he comes in (to practice) and gets physical and puts pressure on me but he also talks me through my game and things I can get better on,” Johnson said.
Johnson said despite the 36-point win Kentucky still has plenty of things to work on before it plays Indiana Saturday and then St. John’s a week later. Kentucky is 0-4 against ranked teams this season.
“We have to improve on every aspect. Right now we are focused on defense and trying to get continuous stops,” Johnson said. “We are working on communication. It’s just the smaller details of the game, protecting the ball and always staying confident. Coach Pope wants us to take open shots, stay aggressive and we will live with the results.”
Pope said he was “proud” of how Johnson played.
“He’s trying. It’s a steep learning curve. I think he’s trying to take in all of the information the best he can. I thought his very first play in the game, I thought he had some force downhill which has been a really important part of him,” the Kentucky coach said.
“Again, it’s got to translate into better games. It’s no mystery what we have to do. We have to translate some of these things into more competitive games. I’m proud of his progress and his whole heart is in this and I expect big things from him as we move forward in the season.”
8 Responses
I can see Johnson and Moreno being like Stockton and Malone.
Anxious see how they play against Indiana. Hope this is the turning point.
Johnson is a better 2 guard than point…but Aberdeen has the same skill set, so does Chandler. Lowe is a liability on defense and tends to seek his own shot first. Nobody really wants to play the point because it hurts their game.
Last night's game was a somewhat positive step forward and very glad that we had two guys that really played well with winning attitudes and production, but we will know the actual direction after the next two games. Garrison has secured himself as biggest cancer risk but may there be a couple others? Pope's post game presser not a real confidence builder as he doesn't conceal his stress levels very well. We certainly didn't look like a team on the restructure the first 10 minutes. I think offensively our bigs continue to underwhelm and play too soft and should be further along for time of year. We still don't have anyone able to consistently score inside, and we also don't seem to any clue how to work the ball inside.
We played basically a high school team and if you look at the other games they played we played them the worst out of anyone. North Carolina beat them by 44. North Carolina state beat them by almost 60. We couldn't even cover 42 points. It's like Pope knows this. Everytime we have a chance to cover he puts in the walkons I'm not against it but our team needs every second of competition it xan have. Why play people who dont really matter in the big scheme of things. Pope is putting on a act. He's mad about a win because he knows if the team we played was even half way decent it would havr a came down to the wire.
Johnson and Moreno play great together. Noah and Chandler also have a awesome connection that will only get better. I can see these 4 players being the nucleus that we need to build around. Throw in Jelavic, Hawthorne, Williams, and Potter and we have a great team next year. We need 3 true point guards as well and we will be set. We don't need to get a bunch of guys that will take unnecessary minutes away from this core. They also should be much better next season. Johnson and Chandler will be the headliners. With Moreno a improved Mo-D as a senior. We have a chance to have a good season this year and a even better season next year. I saif before this year started that we can be a good team this year but 2026-2027 will be a much better year. The reason for this is 4 freshman and 4 sophomores. That's 8 players that play that are underclassmen. We dont have elite freshman. We have guys that are 2-3 year college players who need another year of experience. Chandler could be a all American next year if he continues to improve as fast as he is. He is already better than a overrated Oweh. Potter is better than Garrison. Hawthorne is better than Williams, Noah, and Aberdeen already. I would play Hawthorne and redshirt Potter. Hawthorne can help the team this year. He's like a point forward who scores with ease. He was a top 35 recruit. Why is he not playing on a 6-4 team? He could help with the scoring and rebounding.
Potter may be better than Moreno. I feel Moreno is very overrated especially on offense. He has trouble making a shot unless at rim. He does good job of rebounding.
Potter is the best offensive big we have maybe besides Jelavic. Jelavic will need this season to get used to the speed of American basketball. He will be much better next season. You will see him get better and better as the season goes on. For some reason Pope doesn't give him a lot of minutes and he might be one of the toughest players on the team. Moreno has a credit card vertical. He's good at rebounding because he's wide and takes up a lot of space. He needs to work on how fast he gets up off the ground. He's a slow jumper. He's definitely the best rebounder on the team. He will be much better next year as well. I think we have a chance to have a very special season next year if we can get everyone back that has eligibility and build around them. Potter is one of the best shooters on the team. Hawthorne is also a great shooter. We are struggling at shooting. You have to mix the lineups up and have shooters with good defenders. Chandler needs to get more picks set for him to be able shoot more. Instead of designing most of the plays for Oweh we need to design more plays for Chandler and Johnson. Johnson and Chandler will be all SEC level next year. We just need a couple of real point guards and we would have w good team. That's what we are missing. Lowe isn't a SEC type Point guard. He's a ACC type or out west type. He wouldn't make it in the big ten either. He's to skinny and he gets pushed around. He's actually scared and you can tell. It's just basketball dude you dont have to tackle anyone. It's to late to get a point guard now we have to play with what we have. I don't expect much this year with no point guard. If we make it back to the sweet 16 I will be very surprised. Guards win championships ask Florida last year. I'm not talking about Aberdeen either. They had 3-4 elite guards who could hit 3s. We don't have that. I'm so tired of hearing about us beating Purdue it was a exhibition and there coach played it like it was. Mark Pope played it like it was a game which surprised there coach I think he got a kick out of it. If we played them in a real game they would beat us easily by 20.
Comments are closed.