USC Basketball: What Happened To Kobe Johnson?

The former Pac-12 All-Defense honoree has had a down season.

USC Trojans junior wing Kobe Johnson has had something of a down year in 2023-24, like many of his fellow Cardinal and Gold upperclassmen.

After the 6’6” swingman was named to the 2023 Pac-12 All-Defense Team as a sophomore, many pundits (yours truly included) anticipated that Johnson would take a huge leap on offense this season.

His scoring has taken a marginal uptick. He's averaging 10.2 points, a bump from his 9.2 points for a much better 22-11 club last year. But his shooting efficiency has taken a nosedive. He's notching a .372/.277/.717 slash line, a far cry from his sophomore season splits of .468/.360/.841.

Johnson's 4.3 rebounds and 1.9 steals represent dip from his five boards and 2.2 swipes last year, though his 3.4 dimes a night in 2023-24 are an improvement on his 2.6 dishes in 2022-23. His defensive box plus-minus of 3.2 this year is a massive decline from his 5.0 defensive box plus-minus last year.

Last year, his 72 total steals numbered as the second-most among any Pac-12 players, and also tied him for third place on the club's all-time list of single-season steals. His 85 dimes ranked third on the club.

He's still surprisingly raw and deferential offensively. Enfield has had so little confidence in Johnson at times that he has experimented with playing the Milwaukee native off the bench, even though his 9-15 club is desperate for defense. If Johnson is harboring NBA ambitions, he could use significantly more NCAA seasoning first.