Johnson ready to take game to next level

By: Juan López

Monday, November 16, 2009 - 11:27 PM

Click to enlarge. Photo by Brian Bolton / Nevada Sagebrush.

There’s little doubt Armon Johnson is one of the best players in the Western Athletic Conference.

Last year as a sophomore, the point guard posted 15.5 points and 4.3 assists per game, making him one of only two players in the conference to average more than 15 points and four assists per contest (Idaho’s Mac Hopson averaged 16.4 points and 5.9 assists per game).

Earlier this year, he was named to the Preseason all-WAC Team.

Despite all his previous accomplishments, Johnson said they’re small compared to what’s to come this season.

“Every part of my game has gotten better,” he said. “My shot, my ball handling, my defense, my playmaking — it’s just exploded. Everything’s gotten so much better. I’m so much stronger right now. Big things are going to happen this year.”

Johnson said in the offseason he put on seven pounds to his 6-foot-3 frame and improved his vertical jump to close to 40 inches.

He credited the improvement he is seeing now to the hard work he put in during the summer.

“I was always playing basketball,” said Johnson as he dribbled a basketball through his legs and behind his back. “I worked out really hard, pushed myself like crazy and it’s paying off.”

Johnson’s head coach, David Carter, said he’s a believer in his point guard’s progression, but his progression has gone from physical maturation to growth on the court.

“He’s definitely gotten a lot stronger and his shooting has improved,” Carter said. “The biggest thing for him is playing like a true point (guard) and getting everybody involved.”

But Johnson has a lot of expectations to live up to. Before his sophomore season, he was named the WAC Preseason Player of the Year. As a true freshman, straight from high school, he was the starting point guard on a team that made the NCAA Tournament the year before. In just two years with the Wolf Pack, he has already made his mark on the school.

Yet he hopes his development will help him surpass his past successes.

“Between my freshman and sophomore year, I improved a lot,” said Johnson, who averaged 11.5 points per game as a freshman. “But from my sophomore year until now, it’s been triple that.”

Shooting guard Brandon Fields, who is Johnson’s backcourt mate, said he can attest to Johnson’s claims that his entire “game has gotten better.”

“He’s a little bigger, his ball handling got better and it seems like he never misses that little mid-range jumper,” Fields, a senior said. “The people who have to guard him during games are going to have a long night.”

Armon Johnson

➤ Armon Johnson averaged a team-high 4.3 assists per game last season for the Wolf Pack.
➤ Johnson was one of two players in the conference to average more than 15 points and four assists per game during the 2008-09 season.
➤ He was named the Western Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year before his sophomore season.”

If I could be like Mike…

➤ As a freshman, Nevada point guard Armon Johnson donned No. 3. After his rookie year, he changed to No. 23. Despite being born in Chicago, Johnson said his change to No. 23 had little to do with the most famous basketball player of all time, who made his name in Chicago and made the No. 23 famous — Michael Jordan.
➤ “Five used to be my favorite number when I was a kid, but when I got to middle school, they didn’t have it. So I said, ‘Two plus three equals five,’ so I got 23.” — Johnson

Juan López can be reached at jlopez@nevadasagebrush.com.