Indiana Basketball Player Preview: Xavier Johnson

Point guard Xavier Johnson is first up in our 2023-24 Indiana basketball player preview series. Below, we broke down Johnson's career highlights, reasons for optimism, causes for concern and season expectations entering his sixth year.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Xavier Johnson wasn't supposed to be at Indiana this year, but he's perhaps the most important player on a roster full of unknowns.

Johnson broke his foot 11 games into the 2022-23 season. He pushed hard to recover and make a late-season return, but ultimately missed the rest of the year. The NCAA approved Johnson's medical hardship waiver, granting him a rare sixth year of college eligibility, which elicited an "old man" nickname given to him by coach Mike Woodson.

At his best, Johnson has a case for the Big Ten's best point guard with his tenacious on-ball defense, speed, efficient 3-point shooting and leadership as a team captain. Questioning if Johnson can play to his full potential after a season-ending injury is fair, but there's no doubting his importance to Woodson's Hoosiers this year.

"My goal is nothing individually, more team-wise," Johnson said. "I want to win. That's the last thing on my list to do in college, is to win."

Johnson is the first player in our Indiana men's basketball player preview series, where we will discuss career highlights, reasons for optimism, cause for concern and season expectations.

Player bio

• Height, weight: 6-foot-3, 200 pounds
• Position: Point guard
• Year: Senior (6th)
• Hometown/High school: Woodbridge, Va. / Bishop O'Connell
• Previous college: Pittsburgh
• 2022-23 stats: 11 games, 9.9 ppg, 4.9 apg, 37.0 3-pt %

Indiana Hoosiers guard Xavier Johnson (0) celebrates a made shot in the second half Purdue Boilermakers at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall / Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Career highlights

Most of Johnson's best moments as a Hoosier came during the home stretch of the 2021-22 season. Indiana was squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble, but he willed the Hoosiers to the Big Dance and perhaps even outplayed Trayce Jackson-Davis in the final 10 games.

During that stretch, Johnson averaged 16.6 points, 6.6 assists and four rebounds per game, each of which would be career-high numbers for a season. Johnson's averages dropped in his first 11 games of the 2022-23 season, but his two best games came in wins against top-tier opponents. He scored 23 points with seven rebounds in a win at Xavier, then helped the Hoosiers take down North Carolina with a 20-point, eight-rebound performance.

Reasons for optimism

Johnson will be 24 years old when the season starts, and the value of a sixth-year senior point guard with 129 games of college basketball experience cannot be understated. He's been through the rigors of the Big Ten and ACC many times, and Woodson is relying on him to be a leader as a team captain.

Much of Woodson's offensive philosophy revolves around the pick-and-roll, and Johnson will be the decision maker in those instances. He seemed to form great pick-and-roll chemistry with then-new teammate Trayce Jackson-Davis at the end of 2021-22. While not a volume shooter, he's made 38 percent of his 3-point attempts in 45 games as a Hoosier. And perhaps most importantly, Johnson has the potential to make the Big Ten's All-Defensive team, and Indiana desperately missed his defense on the perimeter at times last season.

Cause for concern

Part of Johnson's offensive success stems from a quick first step. Will he lose any of that after foot surgery? That's the biggest question and concern for Johnson entering his sixth year. He also hasn't played real games with the majority of Indiana's roster, aside from 11 games last year. Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal and Johnson are the only remaining players from the 2021-22 roster. How long will it take for Johnson to click with his new teammates? And finally, Johnson turned the ball over four times per game as a freshman at Pittsburgh, but that decreased to 2.7 and 2.8 in two seasons at Indiana. As the Hoosiers' floor general, he must value the ball.

Season expectations

Indiana has plenty of scoring to replace after losing Jackson-Davis, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Race Thompson, Miller Kopp, Tamar Bates and Jordan Geronimo – 61.2 per game to be exact. That gives Johnson a path to averaging his most points per game as a Hoosier. And if all goes well, he has a chance to post career-high scoring totals and surpass the 15.5 points he averaged as a freshman at Pittsburgh.

But even beyond his scoring, Indiana needs Johnson to set the tone defensively, make smart passes and be a leader. 

We also discussed expectations for Johnson on a recent episode of the Hoosier Roundtable. Watch the episode in video form below, or CLICK HERE to listen on Spotify. 

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