Indiana Point Guard Xavier Johnson Back On Court But Comeback Still Uncertain

Ahead of the Hoosiers' home game against Wisconsin on Tuesday, Indiana coach Mike Woodson said sixth-year senior point guard Xavier Johnson has done some things on the court but has not had full-contact yet.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Time is running out on Xavier Johnson's college basketball career.

Johnson, Indiana's sixth-year senior point guard, suffered an elbow injury on Jan. 30 against Iowa, exactly four weeks prior to Tuesday's game against Wisconsin. Woodson said Monday he was told the injury would keep Johnson out four-to-seven weeks.

During the first four games Johnson missed in February, he wore a brace on his left arm. Though he didn't play in recent losses to Nebraska and Penn State, he wasn't wearing the brace on the sideline. Woodson isn't closing the door on Johnson's return just yet.

"He did some things [Sunday] on the floor, not a lot of contact" Woodson said Monday. "So all I'm doing is I'll go down today and talk to Tim [Garl, Indiana's head athletic trainer] and see where he is. I know he wants to play, man, in the worst way. Time is kind of running out on him, and I feel for him in that regard. But I'm just going to kind of follow his lead. I don't like playing players when they don't practice and not have some kind of contact. So I don't know. I'll know more today and see where he is in terms of him wanting to play ... We'll see today, see how he felt after running around a little bit yesterday without the contact and go from there. That's all we can do."

Indiana is 1-5 since Johnson's injury against Iowa, with a three-point win at Ohio State and losses to Penn State (twice), Purdue, Northwestern and Nebraska.

In the midst of an injury-riddled season, Johnson has been limited to 14 of 27 games due to foot and elbow injuries. When healthy, he's averaging career lows with 8.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.9 steals per game. He's shooting 40.7% from the field and 34.8% from 3-point range, in line with his career averages, but his 71.2% mark at the free throw line is a career low.

Johnson has had bad luck regarding injuries over the last two seasons. After averaging 12.1 points and 5.1 assists in 2021-22, he broke his foot 11 games into the 2022-23 season and missed the remainder of the year. Johnson received a medical hardship waiver, which granted him a sixth year of eligibility in 2023-24.

"From a basketball standpoint, it's hard to gauge our season based only the fact we haven't had Xavier," Woodson said. "I'm not putting it all on that, but Xavier was a big piece to the puzzle in terms of leadership and being able to run our team as a senior point guard. We put so much pressure on Gabe Cupps that that's not fair to him, even though he's played well in spurts for us. It's been tough in that regard because we haven't had Xavier. We just got to continue to work."

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• 2023-24 IU SCHEDULE: The 2023-24 Indiana basketball schedule is now finalized, with time and television designations released for all games. CLICK HERE
• WHAT WOODSON SAID: Indiana coach Mike Woodson met with the media after Saturday's loss to Penn State, saying that he's ''upset with the way we've played and the way I've coached this team this whole season.'' Here is the full video and transcript. CLICK HERE
• GAME STORY: Indiana lost its fourth straight game to Penn State in a 13-month window, and it was the same issue with the Nittany Lions making nine threes in an 83-74 win. Indiana made only two — both in the final minute — and also missed 11 free throws to fall to 14-13 on the season and 6-10 in the Big Ten. CLICK HERE