By Mike Gilpatrick–
With the men’s basketball season underway, the Cardinals are focused on one thing: making it to the Final Four. One key to making it is Jaylen Johnson. Throughout the summer, Johnson surprised coach Rick Pitino and has found himself in the starting lineup for this season.
He played 4.6 minutes in key spots his first year. Last year, Johnson started for the injured Mangok Mathiang for half of the season. He had a large role in the Louisville frontcourt, though he had been inconsistent. One night, he would show bouts of greatness, then the next, he would show mediocrity.
Johnson had walked into Pitino’s office during the offseason, hoping to find out what he needs to do to make a career out of professional basketball. His motivation: his mother and younger brother.
“My mom bust her butt every day to make sure that me and my brother have some food on the table,” Johnson said. “I feel like I’m going to give back to her.”
During this offseason, Johnson had prepared differently. He would wake up early, run five or six miles a day, in addition to lifting and working out daily. In practice, his hard work had started to show.
“Jaylen Johnson has been handling Ray (Spalding),” Pitino said of Johnson in practice. “He’s playing like a possessed man.”
That leads us to this year, with the hole in the frontcourt left by Chinanu Onuaku. With Mathiang still not at full strength, Johnson will likely start at center.
In one game already, Johnson played like a possessed man. In Louisville’s season opener against Evansville on Nov. 11, Johnson played 24 minutes of exceptional basketball, racking up 19 points, 14 rebounds, with three blocks and one assist. If Johnson could perform similarly this season, the whole team could benefit from this.
Photo by Nancy Hanner / The Louisville Cardinal
