University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Johnson Targets Consistency
September 22, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
By Adam Lucas
Brice Johnson's on-court exchanges with Roy Williams are a familiar sight to Carolina basketball fans. Sometimes the emotional senior needs to be reminded to get back on defense. Occasionally his memory might need to be refreshed about a defensive assignment.
Sometimes, however, his more subtle interactions with the head coach lead to points—lots and lots of points.
Such was the case in Carolina's NCAA Tournament loss to Wisconsin this spring. During a timeout, Johnson made a simple suggestion, saying he believed a particular offensive set might work well against the Badgers. Williams listened to Johnson's idea, and the Tar Heels proceeded to get points on that exact set in three subsequent trips down the floor.
"Coach Williams is right almost all of the time,” Johnson says. “But sometimes I feel like because of what I'm able to see on the court, I might know something that we could try. When I was a freshman, most of the time those things didn't work out, and I was like, 'Well, he was right.' But as I've gotten older, I feel like I've gotten a better idea of what might help us in the flow of the game.”
That's what happened against Wisconsin. Johnson shot seven-of-nine from the field and finished with 15 points, partially thanks to his suggestion that generated some offense.
The South Carolina native has always been able to score. His soft touch is more like a guard's, often creating friendly rolls when he's able to get the ball to the rim. Johnson shot a team-leading 58.3 percent in league games last season and finished the year fourth in the conference in field goal percentage. Quietly, he finished with the third-most points in the ACC among players without a three-point field goal.
Over his time in Chapel Hill, he's learned to complement that scoring touch with the type of game Williams wants his big men to play. That's how Johnson finished last year with double-digit rebounds in nine of his final 23 games (including 13 against a physical Arkansas team in the NCAA Tournament) after getting 10+ boards just three times in his first 85 games as a Tar Heel.
His first-team All-Tournament performance in the ACC Tournament was highlighted by a 22-point, seven-rebound showing against Louisville's Montrezl Harrell, one of the most formidable post players in the conference.
"At halftime of that game, Coach (Hubert) Davis got on me a little bit,” Johnson says. “When I'm angry, I seem to play a lot better.”
That wasn't always the case when he was a younger player. But he's improved in every season in Chapel Hill, and this summer's opportunity to play pickup games against John Henson should help. The former Tar Heel forward plays a style based on length and athleticism, not unlike the way Johnson sometimes frustrates opponents.
Being forced to guard Henson reminded Johnson just how devastating a few of the moves in Johnson's vast offensive arsenal can be. Henson developed an almost unstoppable jump hook during his tenure at Carolina.
“I had to guard that jump hook,” Johnson says. “It's nearly impossible to stop it. When you're shooting it well, you jump up as high as you can and throw it in the basket, and it's hard to block because not many guys can get off the floor to block that shot. It's one of the most effective post moves you can have.”
Johnson has it, along with multiple other ways to score. He spent the summer working on offensive counter moves, and he'll go into his senior season as just the 72nd Tar Heel to score 1,000 career points.
“This has been a learning experience for me,” he says. “And as I've gotten more used to it, things have clicked, and I've realized I'm capable of playing the way the coaches want me to play every night. I know that it's up to me. I just have to go out and do it.”
