Jasper Johnson‘s welcome-to-college-basketball moment came during offseason summer practices.
A highly-ranked high school prospect, the 6-foot-4 incoming freshman has long been heralded as one of the best scoring guards in his class. But rankings don’t matter once you’re in the practice gym, going up against some of the best college players in the nation. That moment happened during a recent scrimmage when Johnson was switched onto Otega Oweh, an All-SEC Second Team performer last season, while trying to defend full-court.
“He just hit me with a quick in-and-out move and went by me,” Johnson admitted during Thursday’s media session. “I was like dang, I gotta lock in. This is a lot different. Just how strong and how quick he turned his hips on me and got downhill.”
Johnson isn’t shying away from the fact that he has to improve on defense. He says his new Kentucky teammates have been testing him on that end of the floor ever since he arrived back in Lexington after helping Team USA win a gold medal in Switzerland. While representing his country, Johnson averaged eight points per outing and shot 40.7 percent from deep. Being surrounded by so many talented players helped him embrace a role that led to team success.
He knows he can score the ball, but playing his role defensively is what can earn him the playing time he wants as he enters his rookie season.
“Your whole life you play a role, whether you know that or whether you don’t,” Johnson said. “I know a lot of my role now is to — people like to say — score the ball. But first things first, I have to defend. No matter where you play, that’s gonna be your main role is to defend, guard the ball, guard your yard, things like that. I know that’s what I’m really trying to work on and focus on right now, watching film, getting extra reps with guarding the ball. Because I know if I get acclimated to that, everything else will take care of itself.“
Johnson pushed back on the idea that transitioning to playing defense at this level has been “difficult”, but he did say it’s been “challenging”. He added that he suffered a minor ankle injury during his time with Team USA, which he’s still in the process of rehabbing. Johnson was in the film room with assistant coach Jason Hart on Wednesday going over defensive clips. Kentucky’s strength and conditioning coach, Randy Towner, is making Johnson eat anything and everything he sees in an effort to bulk up.
Getting to where he wants to on defense is a process, but one he’s taking seriously.
“The only thing I’m really trying to adjust to now is the physicality and learning all the new terminologies in our system,” Johnson said. “I know Coach (Mark) Pope wants to be precise with our answers and being quick thinkers. That’s really the main focus right now.”
Pope has said that he needs Johnson to be great at Kentucky. That can only happen if the star freshman is a plus on both ends of the floor.
I’d say it was a great experience. USA Basketball, I’m playing with some of the top players in the country. A lot of us on the team have the same goal, win a national championship and go to the NBA. I wouldn’t really say I got too far behind, because I was still competing with some of the best players in the country.