To help Pitt basketball fans get better acquainted with the five new faces who will suit up for the Panthers this season, the Post-Gazette conducted interviews with each player to find out more about them, both on and off the court.
Xavier Johnson
Height: 6-3
Weight: 190
Position: Guard
Year: Freshman
Hometown: Woodbridge, Va.
Commitment date: April 28, 2018
Recruiting rating: Rivals – 3 stars; ESPN – 4 stars; 247 – 3 stars (No. 232 recruit nationally)
The skinny: Marcus Carr’s decision to transfer to Minnesota following coach Kevin Stallings’ firing left a gaping hole at point guard for Pitt, not necessarily because of Carr’s talent but because the Panthers had effectively no other options at the position. Rather quickly, thanks to Jeff Capel’s recruiting prowess, that changed, with Johnson standing as one of the fruits of that labor.
Originally a Nebraska commit, Johnson has impressed coaches with his speed and athleticism, giving them the kind of point guard Pitt hasn’t had in some time, even in some of its best seasons. As a senior at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, Va., he averaged 18.4 points and 4.3 assists per game on his way to being named Washington Catholic Athletic Conference player of the year and earning Washington Post first-team all-metro honors. In the lone portion of preseason practice open to the media, Johnson was working with what appeared to be the Panthers’ first team, and in their secret scrimmage last Saturday against Dayton, he scored 19 points. Along with fellow freshman Trey McGowens, Johnson could make a large and immediate impact in the Pitt backcourt.
The Questions
Q: During the college search and the whole commitment process, what really separated Pitt to you?
A: “To be honest, it’s close to home. Coach Capel and the whole coaching staff, they were pretty honest with me and straightforward. That’s pretty much it.”
Q: What was their pitch to you like? What did coach Capel and the staff say to you that persuaded you?
A: “Their pitch to me was I was going to get a good education here, I was pretty much going to develop on and off the court, and they were going to try to get me to the next level.”
Q: What do you envision your role being on this team?
A: “My role is to use my speed and get up and down the court fast, find open players, finish at the rim. I guess I’m crafty and all that. That’s pretty much it.”
Q: You had mentioned that craftiness there. What do you feel like defines you as a player?
A: “Honestly, I don’t know what defines me. I’m just a guy who plays hard and competes. Even when I’m not playing well, I still compete.”
Q: What went into the decision to decommit from Nebraska and open things back up?
A: “Honestly, when coach Kenya Hunter left to go to UConn, that pretty much changed everything because that was who I had the biggest relationship on the coaching staff at Nebraska with.”
Q: We hear so often about what a good recruiter Capel is. Was there anything about him that really stood out? Are there any good stories from that time?
A: “Pretty much his honesty. He told me that he needed a point guard, so that pretty much appealed to me, my dad and my whole family who were in the room. I would have a big role on this team playing point guard because that’s the one position they needed from last year to this year with Marcus [Carr] leaving. That’s one reason I came here, too.”
Q: What about your game do you feel like translates well immediately to the Division I level?
A: “My speed. My speed is, I guess, pro-level speed from what everyone else says. I kind of use it a lot. My jump shot is getting there, but it’s not there yet consistently.”
Q: Have coaches been working with you pretty consistently on your jump shot or is it more a matter of ‘Hey, the form works, we’re just going to roll with it’?
A: “They tell me to just keep shooting the ball. I pretty much have a good jump shot. They just want me to keep shooting more because I kind of turn down a low of shots I’m supposed to take.”
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… and a few more
Q: What’s the last TV show you binge-watched?
A: “Hawaii Five-O.”
Q: The old one or the new one?
A: “The new one.”
Q: Who’s the best player you’ve ever gone up against?
A: “There’s a lot of them. Shoot, I would Darius Garland from Vanderbilt. I played him back on the EYBL circuit.”
Q: If you were to win the lottery and could do anything for the rest of your life without having to worry about money, other than playing basketball, what would you do?
A: “I’d probably own my own business. A clothing line.”
Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG
First Published: October 30, 2018, 1:00 p.m.
