Jasper Johnson dropped a career-high vs. NCC, but Mark Pope wants to see it translate against better competition

Jasper Johnson easily had the best game of his young college career on Tuesday night against North Carolina Central.

The freshman guard doubled his previous season-high, going for 22 points in Kentucky’s 103-67 over the Eagles. Johnson was efficient in his scoring, finishing 6-10 from the field and 2-4 from beyond the arc. He made all eight of his free throws, even getting fouled twice on three-point attempts. The Lexington native rounded out his stat line with two rebounds and two assists without a single turnover in just 19 minutes of action.

Johnson took full advantage of North Carolina Central’s zone defense by being assertive when pockets of space opened up.

“Just staying aggressive,” Johnson said of what helped him play well. “I’m watching a ton of film with Coach (Jason) Hart every day and our manager, Jaylan Green. Just putting in a lot of hours. I’m living my dream right now, and the University of Kentucky is the most valuable thing ever to me. I’m just trying to do whatever I can to impact the game at all times. Because this really means something to me. I’m just gonna give everything my all.”

With his 22 points, Johnson became just the fifth Bluegrass native to reach that mark as a freshman for the Wildcats. Of note, he mentioned in the postgame press conference that he’s “been dealing with some tendon work in my right leg”, but it clearly hasn’t bothered him enough to prevent him from playing.

Kentucky freshman Jasper Johnson with a career-high 22 PTS off the bench 🔥 (🎥: @espn)

📊: 22 PTS, 6-10 FG, 2-4 3PT, 8-8 FT

RWE legend back in that mode 😈 pic.twitter.com/n3iMCswCmG

— Overtime Elite (@OvertimeElite) December 10, 2025

Johnson looked every bit like the top-end high school recruit he was before arriving on UK’s campus. But this performance also came against the lowest-ranked KenPom team (350th) that Kentucky will face all season long. This was his first double-digit scoring effort since going for 11 points in the season-opener. Johnson averaged just 4.5 points per outing against the Wildcats’ four ranked opponents.

His head coach wants to see the 22-point showing against North Carolina Central translate against better competition. The next opportunity isn’t far away with Indiana coming to Rupp Arena on Saturday.

“I’m proud of Jasper. He’s trying,” Mark Pope said postgame. “It’s a steep learning curve. I think he’s trying to take in all the information the best he can. I thought his very first play in the game, I thought he had some force downhill, which has been a really important part of him.

“And again, it’s got to translate into better games. There’s no mystery what we have to do. We have to translate some of these things into more competitive games. But I’m proud of his progress and his whole heart’s in this and I expect big things from him as we move forward in the season. Just like all of our guys.”

Kentucky could certainly use Johnson’s microwave scoring ability moving forward this season. If he can get rolling against the Hoosiers just like he did on Tuesday, it will greatly help UK’s chances.

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