Lexington’s personal Jasper Johnson will not return to Kentucky for 12 months two, the previous top-25 prospect has introduced. He will as a substitute discover his choices within the transfer portal, in search of a recent begin following an up-and-down freshman marketing campaign as a Wildcat.
He averaged 4.9 factors, 1.6 assists and 1.1 rebounds in 12.0 minutes per contest throughout 35 video games.
Johnson got here to Kentucky as Mark Pope‘s highest-ranked recruit of all time, finishing at No. 25 overall and No. 9 at his position. He grew up rooting for North Carolina and saw a fit at Alabama under Nate Oats, but opted to stay home and play for his hometown Wildcats, following in his father’s footsteps as a former All-SEC pass-rusher for this system from 1998-2001.
“Being from Lexington, Kentucky, I felt like it was an easy decision,” he mentioned at his dedication ceremony. “I’m KY ‘Til I Die.”
“Jasper Johnson is just danger, danger, danger, danger, right? He just is a dangerous gravity guy,” Pope mentioned of the native five-star after he signed. “… Jasper Johnson has a chance to be a really, really special player here in Kentucky, for sure.”
The imaginative and prescient didn’t turn out to be a actuality for Johnson, who performed simply 20 mixed minutes in three SEC Tournament video games and eight mixed in two NCAA Tournament video games with 11 whole shot makes an attempt in that stretch for 10 factors. Known as one of the dynamic bucket-getters in highschool basketball earlier than arriving as a Wildcat, he’d end with simply 5 double-figure scoring performances — three coming earlier than Christmas in opposition to low-major competitors.
Pope himself admitted that Jaland Lowe’s shoulder damage — one which in the end ended his season — derailed Johnson’s debut season as a Wildcat, forcing him right into a backup level guard function slightly than being the ‘dangerous scoring two guard that he was brought here to be.’
“Jasper Johnson had moments of his season that were super frustrating for him, for sure,” he mentioned. “It really wasn’t fair to ask him to play the backup point guard role, but it was something we needed.”
The Lexington native took the inconsistent taking part in time and function in stride, by no means complaining in regards to the state of affairs publicly and taking possession of his struggles, saying he has to enhance going into 12 months two.
“I’m very confident, I just know I got to get better,” he said following Kentucky’s loss to Iowa State in the Round of 32. “I know I got to get stronger in the offseason, tighten up my game and just go from there — keep growing as a basketball player.”
That enchancment will have to come back elsewhere, Johnson formally set to enter the transfer portal after a single season at Kentucky.
