Xavier Johnson's Status Remains Uncertain Before Michigan Game
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana concludes the 2022-23 regular season on Sunday against Michigan, and the return of senior point guard Xavier Johnson remains uncertain.
Coach Mike Woodson met with the media on Friday morning, saying he'll know more about Johnson's availability after practice.
"Don't know much yet," Woodson said. "Can't give you any info on that yet. Today, we've got to go through practice and see where [Johnson] is. I'm counting on the guys that's been playing, and we've just got to see where he is right now because he hasn't really practiced a lot. So we just got to see where it takes us today."
Although he didn't play, Johnson made intriguing progress on Tuesday before the Iowa game. For the first time since breaking his foot on Dec. 17 at Kansas, Johnson went through every step of pregame warmups in full uniform. He was one of the first players on the court before the game, going through ball-handling and shooting drills. Johnson also did a variety of strength, balance and agility drills with Indiana's director of athletic performance, Clif Marshall.
Indiana's Xavier Johnson (0) warms up before the first half of the Indiana versus Iowa men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 2 8, 2023.
Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK
On Monday, Woodson appeared on his weekly radio show with Don Fischer, sharing some insight on how he might work Johnson back into the rotation if he's able to return.
"If he comes back Sunday, he won't be able to play long minutes," Woodson said Monday. "So the whole thing with me is chemistry. You don't want to mess up chemistry. But all I can relate to is how did coach Knight feel when I was out all those games and I came back? He gave me 40 minutes a game, and I wish I could give X 40 minutes, but that's not being real. So I just have to gauge it and see how it's going early in the game and then make the adjustments from there."
"When you play this game it's about conditioning," Woodson said Monday. "If you're in pretty damn good shape then it helps your all-around basketball game on both ends of the floor. X's game is predicated on speed and being able to get into the guy that's handling the basketball. We've missed that this season. So only time will tell based on where he is as a player for us."
Johnson started all 34 games for Indiana last season, averaging 12.1 points per game. Before his injury, Johnson started 11 games for Indiana this year and scored 9.9 points per game.
Senior forward Race Thompson knows from personal experience that it can take a while to get in the groove of the game after an injury, but thinks Johnson would give the Hoosiers a boost if he returns.
"I think he'd be able to help us a lot with the intensity he brings," Thompson said. "We always say he's the dog of our team, and we've missed that as he's been out. So I think he'd just bring that dog back for us, somebody who leaves it all out on the court every second of the game."
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