Against WSU, Huskies' Johnson Finally Started What He Finished

One of the more curious developments surrounding the University of Washington basketball team over the past month was the games would start and Koren Johnson wouldn't.

When the ball was tossed up, the sophomore guard from Seattle would still be sitting on the bench, waiting patiently for the 15-minute mark of each half so he could sub in.

What made this all so maddening was this: whenever the 6-foot-2 Johnson ultimately stepped on the floor, he looked like one of the best guys running up and down it.

This was something even his coach Mike Hopkins readily acknowledged before taking everyone to Pullman where the Huskies beat Washington State 74-68 on Thursday night to close out the regular season.

"He's arguably the most talented player in our program," Hopkins said of Johnson early in the week, offering high praise. "He can score, he can pass. There's the consistency part, but he's dynamic."

Hopkins, often a creature of habit and reluctant to change up his lineups and rotations in his seven seasons in Montlake, finally acquiesced and made Johnson a starter against the 18th-ranked Cougars. The coach was duly rewarded with a high-end performance from the kid and a most satisfying win.

Changing places with grad senior Sahvir Wheeler, Johnson scored a game-high 23 points, with 12 of them coming inside the final seven and a half minutes when the UW grabbed the lead for good and spoiled WSU's championship ambitions.

While this young player suffered a midseason shoulder injury that set him back, and he struggled with confidence levels at times this season, Johnson has been healthy, totally sure of himself and superb for seven games now.

All that was left to decide was when would he be rewarded for it. Players with his production levels just don't come off the bench. He'd made three previous starts this season as an injury or a sickness fill-in. This time, it was all about merit.

"We just wanted something different," Hopkins said in his postgame interview session. "You know, Koren's been really good. I wanted to see how he would be starting." 

One has to wonder if the Huskies (17-14 overall, 9-11 Pac-12) would have a much better record had they had gone to Johnson sooner as a game-opening player, at least over those previous seven games, where they've gone 4-3.

In his basketball reawakening, Johnson has scored 30, 16, 17, 17, 7, 21 and 23 points, good for an 18.7 average over that time. He's connected on 19 of 38 3-point shots, an even 50 percent. For good measure, he's dished out 29 assists, or 4.1 per outing. 

"Koren, when he's played well, look at what we've done," Hopkins said. "We've been a different team."

Johnson has become a complete player suddenly on the rise, which is both a blessing and a curse in this day and age of overly transient college basketball. 

The real challenge will be to keep Johnson, clearly one of the quickest players in the game to go with that full complement of basketball skills, in Montlake for next season and beyond. 

The Huskies couldn't hang onto young guards RaeQuan Battle, Marcus Tsohonis or Keyon Menifield, who transferred out and currently are holding prominent roles as starters and high scorers for West Virginia, Long Beach State and Arkansas, respectively.  

Whether Hopkins keeps or relinquishes his job, which seems to be leaning to the latter direction, Johnson is bound to receive all sorts of invitations to go elsewhere, incentives to make a change, certainly promises that he'll never be a sub again.

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on X — @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation.