Pittsburgh coach Xavier Johnson announced his commitment to Indiana on Wednesday, and his addition will give Mike Woodson and the Hoosiers a big boost next season.
Johnson, a 200-yard guard, scored 14.2 points, 5.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds for the Panthers as a junior last year.
He preferred Indiana over Baylor, Houston and St. Louis. Joseph’s.
Johnson is originally from Woodbridge, Virginia, and according to Sam Vecenie of The Athletic, is considered the 30th best available transfer or high school player on the market.
According to Vecenie, Johnson is a tough guard from the DMV environment, and very high teams can use a starting guard like him because of his ability to make separation and play for himself and teammates. ‘
Johnson was recruited by Kenya Hunter, head coach of Indiana, when he was in Nebraska, but eventually decided to sign with Pittsburgh. Johnson originally committed to Nebraska, but decided to reopen the recruiting process when Hunter left for UConn in the spring of 2018. The existing relationship between Johnson and Hunter has borne fruit for the Hoosiers, who now have another backfield piece in the kraal 2021-22 season.
As a product of Bishop O’Connell High School, Johnson is named by the 247Composite as the no. 232 player rated at national level.
As a first-year student at Pitt, he scored 15.5 points for the best career. He started 81 careers for the Panthers and averaged 13.7 points on 40.2 percent shooting. He is a career-high 33.6 percent with three points.
According to KenPom.com, Johnson finished fourth in the country last season. Johnson’s aid rate was 42.4 percent. In ACC plays, he achieved the highest aid rate in the conference at 41.5 percent.
Johnson is considered a combo guard, so Woodson must be able to deploy him to various positions in the backcourt.
Indiana still has several players in the transfer portal as of Wednesday afternoon. Race Thompson and Armaan Franklin remain in the portal, while Parker Stewart, Khristian Lander and Jordan Geronimo chose to withdraw from the portal and return to Bloomington.
(Photo credit: Pitt Athletics)
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