Kedrian Johnson’s hoops career has gone from Mr. Offense to a pest on defense

MORGANTOWN — You may have never heard of Temple (Tex.) College, nestled somewhere in the plains between Waco and Austin.

It’s at this junior college where former Temple coach Kirby Johnson turned scoring points in a basketball game into an art form.

The Leopards just didn’t average 100 points per game for a season here and there under Johnson’s watch, they averaged 100 points for more than 1,000 games during his 38 years as coach.

“His junior college team, I forget what it was, but they had so many consecutive games of scoring over 100,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins began the story. “How most people hang up something when you win something, they hang up a deal that went all the way around the gym for how many 100-point games.”

WVU STATS

This was where Kedrian Johnson got his introduction to college basketball, as one of the leading scorers in the country at the JUCO level that was all about offense.

The senior point guard is now a defensive general on a WVU team that is defense first, one that has held its last five opponents to under 60 points and will try to make it six straight when Youngstown State (7-3) visits the Coliseum at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Johnson is referred to as a “pest” by many of his teammates and that knack is seemingly always on display.

He leads the Mountaineers (10-1) with 24 steals, while taking pride in locking down on the other’s team’s point guard.

“The thing that sets him apart is his lateral quickness is quicker than a lot of guys’ straight-forward quickness,” WVU forward Jalen Bridges said. “He’s just so fast and he can move his feet. We saw that last year in practice. He was going to try and shut down whoever he was against.”

In Johnson’s own words, he was always willing to play defense. His father, Virgil, nicknamed him Rip, “because I was always trying to rip things away growing up,” Johnson said.

But Johnson made his name in those days at Temple College averaging 25 points a game as a freshman and then averaged another 25 as a sophomore.

On his official visit to WVU, Huggins made sure to hit the point guard with a dose of reality that playing in the Big 12 is a long way from what Johnson came to now in junior college.

“Keddy was one of the leading junior-college scorers in the country, but we were trying to make him understand that’s it’s just not all about scoring here,” Huggins said. “I think he needed a dose of maybe knowing that we do try and guard here.”

Johnson was shown film of former WVU standout Jevon Carter and how Carter relentlessly attacked on defense.

“(Huggins) told me I was capable of doing some of those same things,” Johnson said.

After playing sparingly last season, Johnson is now entrenched as a starter for a team that did not receive high praise for its defensive efforts from Huggins back at the start of the season.

That thought brings a smile to Johnson.

“It’s different than being on the court and seeing it than coaching and watching,” Johnson said. “It probably did look bad from his point of view. On the court, I don’t think it was so bad at times, but it was bad at other times.”

WVU’s defense hasn’t been bad lately. The Mountaineers allow just 60.5 points per game, nearly a 12-point improvement from a season ago.

“I wouldn’t say it was steps we took, it was just the will to want to win,” Johnson said. “We just lock in defensively when it’s time to win.”

Johnson’s constant ball pressure is part of the reason for the team’s defensive improvement. He also credits teammates Pauly Paulicap and Dimon Carrigan for blocking shots and Gabe Osabuohien for his ability to draw charges and deflect passes.

Throw it all together and you have the Mountaineers’ defense becoming the calling card of the program again.

Did the players see that happening?

“With this group, no,” Bridges said. “We have a lot of guys who can score in different ways. At the same time, we have a lot of two-way players who also take pride in defense and not letting their man score. People are getting mad when they get scored on, and you have to love that.”

Notes

** Huggins said guard Malik Curry was fine and ready to go. Curry twisted his ankle in last Saturday’s win against UAB.

** Huggins and former WVU coach and athletic director Fred Schaus were named Tuesday as nominees for the Class of 2022 Naismith Hall of Fame.

Huggins, who has 910 career wins, is nominated as a coach, while Schaus, who coached the Mountaineers to the 1959 Final Four, is nominated as a contributor.

The finalists will be announced on Feb. 18, and the induction class will be announced during the 2022 Final Four.

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