South Carolina women's basketball: Hard work and more responsibility have Tessa Johnson playing her best basketball

Tournament Tessa is dead. Long live Tournament Tessa.

One of Tessa Johnson’s goals for her junior season was to retire the “Tournament Tessa” moniker. She appreciated being recognized for her postseason prowess, but not the implication that she was a non-factor during the regular season.

Johnson’s role was going to expand this season, whether she was ready or not. She already knew it, but Dawn Staley told her anyway.

“It is her time right now,” Staley said at SEC Tipoff in October. “You have to be on every single day. You have to challenge yourself and familiarize yourself with being great every day, so when the game days come, you’re just playing like you normally play.”

Johnson put in the work. She played in the 3X Nationals in April and hit the weight room. Sports performance coach Molly Binetti named Johnson one of this year’s “Iron Gamecocks.”

Since her freshman season in 2023, Johnson increased her vertical jump from 21.6 to 26.6 inches and her broad jump from 7 feet to 7 feet and 8.5 inches. Johnson shortened the ¾ court sprint from 3.27 seconds to 3.14 seconds. She went from not being able to do a chin-up to doing nine chin-ups.

“I feel a huge difference. I feel faster, stronger, and just more comfortable,” Johnson said. “I’m taking care of my body a lot more and taking it more seriously off the court.”

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The increased expectations haven’t put added pressure on Johnson. They have actually allowed her to play more freely.

Johnson developed her college reputation as a three-and-D type shooter. But that was because South Carolina needed her to be that.

“I kind of made myself a three-point shooter,” Johnson said. “I didn’t really attack as much as I can and stuff like that.”

Johnson was always a great shooter, but in high school she was more of a lead guard. She initiated the offense and balanced out her shooting by attacking the basket. In her final high school game at Saint Michael-Albertville, she won the Minnesota state championship over Hopkins by repeatedly driving by defenders who played her to shoot. Johnson hit one midrange floater after another to punish the defense.

(I watched that game, and I thought she looked like a female Steph Curry. Probably a stretch, but still…)

Now she is showing that same tenacity for the Gamecocks. Johnson is still firing – and making – threes at a high rate. She is 7-15 (46.7%) from behind the arc. She’s also 12-17 from inside the arc, and loving the guard-oriented, uptempo offense South Carolina is playing this season. 

“It’s very fun,” Johnson said. “You can see it out there. We’re all having fun with each other. I think this is just a different dynamic. We’re playing really fast.”

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And she’s playing like that lead guard again, rebounding, initiating offense, and hitting clutch baskets. She’s averaging 15.3 points, up from 8.4 last season. Johnson is averaging 4.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists, both more than twice what she averaged last season. 

“Tessa’s been building towards being this type of guard for the past two years,” Staley said. “She just really got serious. I don’t think she liked her sophomore season, so it’s on the player. It really is on the player to understand who they are, what they can be, pour into and put the work in. Tessa puts the work in.”

And Johnson is still clutch. With Clemson giving South Carolina all it could handle on Tuesday, Johnson scored six points during the decisive 10-0 run to open the fourth quarter. She is who Staley wanted her to be.

“That’s what junior (year) is supposed to look like,” Staley said. “When they put it all together, when they trust, when they believe, and when they understand their process, that’s what it looks like. I don’t have to say much to Tessa; I don’t. She comes to practice; she plays on both sides of basketball. She works before, after practice; she probably comes in and practices on her own, shoots on her own. And that’s the maturation process for someone coming to college. It isn’t anything but that.

“Tessa’s right where she needs to be.”

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