Kennise Johnson Set for Iowa Arrival

Illinois Guard Excited to Join Veteran Hawkeye Squad

'23 Example Academy guard and Iowa signee Kennise Johnson and Hawkeye coach Lisa Bluder. (Johnson Twitter)

Incoming freshman guard Kennise Johnson fully understands what she's joining when stepping on Iowa's campus next month. The women's basketball team brings back a lot of experience from last season's outfit that reached the national championship game. 

The returning starting backcourt of Caitlin Clark, Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin has 299 combined college starts. Backups Molly Davis, Sydney Affolter and Kylie Feuerbach come into 2023-24 with 207 games under their belts. 

Johnson respects the older players and looks forward to learning from them. The Joliet (IL) Example Academy standout also believes she can contribute this winter. 

"I feel like I bring defense," Johnson told HN. "So, bring what's needed and be that defensive threat." 

The Hawkeye system is offense oriented and incredibly good on that end. There's room for improvement defensively, however, after ranking 321 out of 350 Division I programs nationally in points allowed (71.8 PPG) last season. 

Johnson enjoys that aspect of the game. The mindset reaches back to her earlier years while training with her cousin, Aaliyah Frazier, an incoming freshman at Howard. 

"That's all we used to do when we were younger," Johnson said. "We weren't the best on offense until we got older. That was our specialty, defense." 

Ava Jones joins Johnson in Iowa's '23 freshman class. She's working her way back from a tragic accident. They will be roommates this year. 

"Ava is super cool. We honestly text each other a lot. She's super chill. She's nervous. I'm not going to lie. But she's super excited and she can't wait to be down there. She honestly wants to have fun and get back on the court," Johnson said. 

Iowa began recruiting Johnson after her coach at Example Academy, Barry Bradford, reached out to the Hawkeye staff. Assistant Raina Harmon followed up on the lead. 

"I had a knee injury when they first started looking at me," said Johnson, who tore her ACL as a freshman. 

She attended an Iowa camp as a sophomore and proved she was healthy. The Hawkeyes offered her a scholarship. 

"From there, they showed they genuinely care about you, build a relationship with you. They said whether you come here or not, we're supporting you all the way. I loved that," Johnson said. 

Michigan State also offered her a scholarship as did a group of mid-major programs. 

"I didn't think I could go big (school) because my confidence wasn't that great. I was planning on going small until they started getting me to believe in my own abilities and making me feel like this is the best fit for me," she said. 

Johnson was communicating with the Iowa coaches regularly. 

"No other school was talking to me as much as they were. So, I really knew that they wanted me. So, I was like, OK, this is it. This is it," she said. 

She verbally committed to the Hawkeyes in July of last year. She signed her national letter of intent in November. 

"I knew as soon as I went on the visit," she said. 

Johnson watched practice and liked seeing the team's camaraderie. 

"It was serious but there also was laughter. It felt like home. It wasn't intense to the point where everybody is like robots," she said. 

After she was committed and signed, Johnson watched Iowa's run to the national title game. She smiled a lot. 

"It was super exciting. There were a lot of my (prep) teammates doubting us. I won a lot of bets. I just loved that we got to experience that," she said. 

Now Johnson joins a team looking to take the final step and win it all. Her journey starts on June 10, when she moves to Iowa City. 

"I just want to win and grow as a player, just learn as much as I can from all the older girls and apply my defense to the team. Off the court, I want to make new friends, do well in school and try to participate in as many things as I can," she said. 

https://youtu.be/C1K410vCDdg