Virginia basketball coach Tony Bennett had never recruited a graduate transfer prior to 2017, but after three transfers left the program last spring the Hoos needed reinforcements. They took a route that’s worked before at UVA, reaching out to someone they had recruited previously in high school. Enter Nigel Johnson.
Johnson started his college career at Kansas State and then transferred to Rutgers. Last season, he averaged 11.3 points with 64 assists. Still as a graduate, he wanted a new opportunity and received his release. As an Ashburn, Virginia, native out of Broad Run High School, the Cavaliers had recruited him in high school. With the transfer situation and the need for depth at guard, UVA became one of the first schools to recruit him.
Approximately three weeks later, Johnson joined the Hoos. He thinks he immediately can provide some specific skills to the team.
”What they brought me here for, to play great defense and heat the other ballhandlers up,” Johnson said. ”And offensively, to get in the lane and playmake for my teammates and myself and score the ball and shoot it. Do things like that.”
In many ways, Johnson helps replace some of what was lost with the transfer of Darius Thompson, now at Western Kentucky. He’ll give the team backcourt depth, particularly at point guard, with the ability to touch the paint with the dribble. With high-percentage shooters like Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome along with consistent veterans like Devon Hall and Isaiah Wilkins, adding another potential playmaker to the mix should make everyone more dangerous on offense.
Johnson will also give players like sophomores Mamadi Diakite, Guy, and Jerome plus redshirt freshmen Jay Huff and De’Andre Hunter another experienced player on the roster. That can help ease the burden on both ends of the floor should be beneficial.
“We needed, we thought, a guy with some athleticism, a guy that could be a point-combo type of player,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. ”Nigel brings some quickness and is a guy, offensively speaking, that can touch the paint. He can get it going shooting the ball. He’s scored in college games before. He has a lot of college basketball games under his belt. That experience will be valuable. We’re hoping he’ll be able to really at times pick up the ball, pressure the ball, guard quick point guards or real quick offensive players. Defensively, he’s shown all those things in stretches. It’s just kind of becoming consistent.”
Johnson caught up with the media for some questions at the John Paul Jones Arena. (Note, the questions are not in chronological order.)
Quick Take With Nigel Johnson
Question: I know you haven’t been here the last couple of years, but with the success that this program has had, what are your expectations and excitement level really coming into the season?
Nigel Johnson: ”To go to the tournament I mean that’s one of the biggest reasons I came here because I know they have a really good tradition of this tournament and that was one thing I put a big stress on for my senior year was making it to the NCAA Tournament at the end of the year. From how practice has been going so far and the people I have around me, I feel like that’s something we’re going to do.”
Question: You were outsider, in other words you weren’t here before but you were in college basketball. Did you think much about Virginia? I mean they were ranked and on TV.
Nigel Johnson: Yeah, it was crazy. They’ve been ranked every year since I’ve been in college. I didn’t think since I didn’t come here as a freshman, I never thought I’d end up here. When I figured out I was transferring from Rutgers, Virginia was one of the first schools to call me and that gave me the memories from when I was coming to the camps and getting recruited for them out of high school. I just felt like it was a great spot and it’s also my home state school so it just fit perfectly.
Question: Do guys in other conferences talk about, I don’t know, Virginia beating North Carolina? Is Virginia name that comes up? We know North Carolina comes up, Duke – but does Virginia pop up in conversations?
Nigel Johnson: It does. A lot actually. When I was at Rutgers this past year especially, I watched quite a few of their games. One of my teammates at Rutgers named Corey [Sanders], one of his friends was Dwayne Bacon from Florida State so I remember the game when Virginia played Florida State, me and him going back and forth. … So we watched that game. I would say last year I probably caught a good six or seven Virginia games. I saw that game, I saw when they played West Virginia. So I definitely think it’s a school that comes up in basketball conversations a lot.
Question: How’s the adjustment to the Pack-Line Defense overall?
Nigel Johnson: ”I’m naturally a pretty good defender so that made it pretty easy for me and having four years prior to this in college basketball. I know just about how defenses are played. Obviously, our defense is a little bit different but it hasn’t been too hard to adjust to it. That’s the first thing we do in practice every day too so getting a lot of reps with it makes it a lot easier.”
Question: Everyone has Pack-Line Defense questions. How are you doing with the other stuff on the offensive side? Moving without the ball and coming off screens?
Nigel Johnson: It’s going great. The offense, there is a lot of room for everybody and for somebody like me I have a lot of room to create and I have a lot of shooters around me that can knock down shots so that made it a lot easier for me. I would say that’s definitely been going pretty good.
