Washington G Koren Johnson has committed to Louisville; he is the sixth commitment for the Cardinals
Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey strikes again in the transfer portal. Kelsey has a sixth transfer addition to his first roster at Louisville as Washington guard Koren Johnson, who was the Sixth Player of the Year last season in the Pac-12, has committed to Louisville.
The 6-foot-2 native of Seattle, Wash., arrived in Louisville on Saturday for an official visit, which ended on Sunday.
Johnson was electric off the bench for Washington this season – averaging the most points (11.1 ppg) among Conference players with single-digit starts (five) and less than 25 minutes per game (23.7 mpg).
He erupted for a career-high 30 points in an 85-65 victory over Stanford in February – the only one of the Conference’s 22 30-point games accomplished by a non-starter – and reached double-figure scoring 17 times.
Johnson played in 31 games and averaged 11.1 points, 2.7 assists, and 2.2 rebounds a game, while also collecting 38 steals and shooting 42.5 percent from the field and 44.1 percent from three-point range. He had a shoulder injury later in the season that limited his shooting ability a bit, but he only missed one game.
Departing Washington head coach Mike Hopkins said of Johnson late in the season: “He’s arguably the most talented player in our program. He can score, he can pass. It’s the consistency part. He’s dynamic. Student-athletes go through so many ebbs and flows in a season, being confident, not confident. That goes back to the consistency of work. I know with his shoulder it’s been hard to shoot and he was afraid of having contact, but got in there and started working on his game a lot.”
As a freshman during the 2022-23 season, Johnson came off the bench in 29 games and averaged 6.8 points a contest. He had a season-high 15 points along with four assists and three steals against Stanford.
In two years at Washington, Johnson played in 60 games and scored 540 points. He averaged 9.0 points, 2.3 assists, and 1.7 rebounds a contest. He hit 68 of 194 from three-point range.
Johnson started his high school ball at Garfield High School in Seattle before heading to Wasatch Academy in Utah, and he played on the summer circuit for the Seattle Rotary Club.
In 2020, Johnson helped Garfield to the 3-A State Championship in Washington. In the shortened 2021 season, Johnson averaged 28 points, five rebounds and four assists per game. On the EYBL, Johnson plays for the Seattle Rotary and averaged 13.6 points and 4.6 assists a game on 38.8% three-point shooting.
At Louisville, Johnson is the sixth player on the roster. The Cardinals are expected to have all new players on the roster and the current commitments include, Charleston transfers Reyne Smith and James Scott, James Madison transfer Terrence Edwards, Colorado transfer Ja’Vonne Hadley, and BYU transfer Aly Khalifa.
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