South Carolina getting 'confident player' and 'competitor' in Meechie Johnson Jr.
South Carolina picked up a big piece of next season’s backcourt Monday afternoon.
The Gamecocks landed former four-star prospect and Ohio State transfer Meechie Johnson Jr. out of the portal, getting him after hosting him on a visit a few weeks ago.
There was a longstanding relationship with Lamont Paris from his time coaching in Ohio at Akron and again in the Midwest also at Wisconsin and that helped South Carolina land the guard.
“Besides the food?” said Demetrius Johnson, Meechie’s father, laughing.
“It was the realness of the coaches. Coach Paris used to coach at Akron and was around at Wisconsin. We had a relationship with him. He knew Meechie and our family. The other coaches made us feel at home. That’s from the strength and conditioning coach to the trainer to the athletic director. It just makes you feel comfortable.”
The food—a mixture of fried tomatoes and catfish—was only part of it and another the upside of Paris’s history of coaching and developing guards.
Paris was a big piece in developing some of Wisconsin’s better guards in the 2010s. He also coached SoCon Player of the Year Malachi Smith at Chattanooga this season.
South Carolina also has a need at guard given some of the departures in the offseason. Johnson Jr. can potentially help right away.
“The biggest selling point to me was the development part. Knowing his weaknesses and being able to strengthen those and having a chance to play good minutes on the floor and compete and win,” Johnson Sr. said. “I like the development side and being able to strengthen some things up and stay with him and encourage him and get through if he has a downtime.”
Johnson Jr. is coming off a season at Ohio State where he averaged 4.4 points and 1.5 rebounds per game while shooting 30.8 percent from the field, 32.1 percent from three.
He did also have a few injuries in the middle and end of the season. He was forced to play with a mask for a stretch of the season and also tweaked his ankle in Big 10 play.
Before his facial injury, Johnson was averaging 6.6 points and 1.6 rebounds per game. His shooting numbers were also up: 36.8 percent from the field, 40.0 percent from three on almost four attempts per game.
“A confident player,” Johnson said of Johnson Jr. “(He’s) a winner, a competitor. He’s going to leave it all out there.”
The plan is for Johnson to enroll in summer school sometime in June and began working out with the team then.
Until then, he’ll be trying to continue developing before arriving full-time in South Carolina.
“At this point, you have to tighten up everything from your dribbling, your shooting, your passing. I’m like his biggest critic,” Johnson said, laughing. “So everything needs tightening up.”
Johnson is the second scholarship commitment in the transfer class, joining Hayden Brown from The Citadel.
He was considered a top 100 prospect in the 2021 class, the No. 91 overall player and the No. 21 point guard.
“We’re just excited. Hopefully, we come down there and turn some things around. Get to work and be the best player he can be on the court and the best student he can be off the court. Then show good character and be a role model to others.”
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