Winthrop’s 5-Foot, 4 Inch Guard on Pace to Break Records
Eagles point guard Keon Johnson leads the team in scoring.
ROCK HILL, SC (WCCB Charlotte) — Keon Johnson has never seen the highlights of Muggsy Bogues in his ‘hey-day’ with the Hornets.
But Winthrop’s (20-7, 12-4) five-foot, four inch junior point guard is strikingly similar.
“Muggsy (Bogues) probably grew up like Keon (Johnson) grew up with people telling him what you couldn’t do,” fourth year Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey said. “He was too small or basketball is probably not for him. But he has a burning desire to be a great basketball player.”
Johnson may not size up to typical college basketball players. But neither does his statistics.
Eight days ago Johnson hit a game-winning buzzer-beater against Radford to finish off a 32-point performance. The pint-sized point guard currently leads Winthrop in scoring (19.6 ppg) and is approaching the 1300 point mark for his Eagles career.
And if you’re wondering, Johnson is on pace to break the Winthrop all-time scoring mark.
“My whole life I have been undersized from playing AAU with the more athletic, (taller) guys,” Johnson said. “I try to go out there and play my game.”
“It’s unbelievable. He’s five foot, four (inches tall) and he’s as good at the rim as anybody in our league,” Pat Kelsey said.
Kelsey stumbled across Johnson in his home state of Ohio. Kelsey was recruiting another athlete.
“He was getting bucket after bucket and I found out nobody was recruiting him,” Kelsey said. “I said ‘good’, Because we are going to.”
Johnson isn’t worried about the comparison to small-stature NBA players of the past or even the program’s records that are destined to be broke. Keon Johnson is in search of three wins in the Big South Tournament –which would punch his team’s ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010.
“We are in a good direction right now, (but) I think we can get better. We are just getting better everyday,” Johnson said.
Winthrop has won 10 of their last 11 and will clinch a share of the Big South regular season title with a win at High Point on Thursday.
