Mark Pope Still Believes Jasper Johnson Will Be Special Player

Jasper Johnson (Vicky Graff Photo)

National analyst Dane Bradshaw had an interesting take on Kentucky freshman Jasper Johnson early in UKs loss to Georgia on Tuesday.

‘I like the way he is playing. He has done exactly what Coach (Mark Pope) has asked him to do,” said the ESPN analyst.

After the game, Pope also complimented Johnson’s play.

“I thought Jasper gave us a real lift and helped us a lot,” Pope said. “His line doesn’t really scream at you, but he was effective tonight in spaces. When he was on the floor in the first half, he did some nice things for us, and he continues to get better and better.”

Johnson had five points on 2-for-8 shooting, including 1-for-5 from 3, along with one rebound, one steal, and one turnover in 15 minutes. Critics noted that Johnson’s +/- ratio was minus 15, the worst on the team. Supporters would note he had several passes that should have been assists, but teammates didn’t finish the play. Critics would say he got lost on defense. Supporters would say he was not the only reason UK gave up 85 points in the eight-point loss.

The freshman guard is averaging 6.6 points per game, but only 4.6 points per game in SEC play. He had 12 points in 19 minutes to help spark UK’s win at Tennessee. He had 11 points in only 17 minutes in a win over Mississippi.

While some UK fans are not enamored with Johnson’s play, Pope has used him for 10 or more minutes in each of the last four games

Johnson is the highest-ranked high school player Pope has recruited in two years at Kentucky, and the UK coach continues to believe Johnson is getting better. He’s not had the luxury of extended playing time like fellow freshman Malachi Moreno has because he has become UK’s only consistent inside threat.

“He needs to be as aggressive as possible; he’s better when he’s aggressive. He’s going to see good results when he’s aggressive,” Pope said Thursday. “When he gets into trouble, where I don’t feel good with him on the court, is when he’s kind of second-guessing and he’s a little bit on his heels. But the trick is he needs to be really aggressive, making reproducible plays.”

Former UK All-American Jack Givens explained on The Leach Report with Tom Leach on Thursday that backup players don’t get a chance to play through a mistake like starters do. Givens noted that a backup has to deliver immediate positive results to stay in the game, which can make some players tentative.

Pope agreed that Johnson did not have his best overall game against Georgia, but still showed signs of what the coach believes he can do.

“One of his best plays (against Georgia) was in the first half,” Pope said. “He was actually really forceful and aggressive, getting downhill, got downhill, shot-fake, found Trent (Noah) in the corner. Trent came off, he flowed back, he got another catch, and got downhill and got an easy five-foot floater, which is exactly his space.

“But he never gets there unless, one, he’s super aggressive, getting downhill to two feet the first time, and two, he’s disciplined enough to recognize where he is to make a play for a teammate so that the next part of the possession comes around to him.”

Johnson is shooting 37 percent from 3-point range. That’s the second-best 3-point percentage on the team behind Collin Chandler’s 44.1 percent mark. He also has 46 assists in 345 minutes — an assist for about every 7 1/2 minutes he plays.

Pope knows Johnson needs to learn to make the right plays at the right time, and that takes time.

“That’s hard to learn, that’s really hard to learn, but it’s an advanced-level game,” Pope said. “He’s got a chance. He’s going to be a special player, but it’s just growing. It’s growing. He’s making progress. He did really positive things (against Georgia). Some of them didn’t work out well, but I’m proud of him.”