The Gators will need a big game from sophomore forward Keyontae Johnson when they line up Saturday afternoon against No. 4 Auburn at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center.
Key to Success: Equal Parts Parents & Motor
Friday, January 17, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A month or so into the 2018-19 season, Florida assistant Darris Nichols had a sit-down with Keyontae Johnson. As is often the case, the meeting included moving pictures to review. The freshman backup forward, though, was a bit surprised when the video that popped on his coach's laptop was of Johnson's days at Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy.
There was Johnson, a four-star recruit and ESPN Top 100 prospect, doing his thing at one of the top basketball boutiques in the country. Nichols, though, didn't limit the clips to Johnson's hard drives, dunks and splash plays. He had some other action on there, too.
There was Johnson casually jogging back on defense, as the other team zipped down the floor. Then he missed a box out. Then took a play off. And then another. It brought to mind instances during Johnson's rookie collegiate season when the UF coaches — during practices and games — were critical of his so-called "motor."
Nichols asked if the Oak Hill coaches ever brought this to Johnson's attention. No, he was told.
"Well, just because we're telling you about it now doesn't mean we're wrong," Nichols said. "They should have told you about it then. Now, we're trying to correct habits you had years ago."
Johnson's elite athleticism got him out of trouble back then, and, frankly, was good enough at times to do so his first year with the Gators. Repeat: At times. But why not do it more often?
That was the point when Nichols and his UF colleagues broached the subject with Johnson's parents. That would be Marrecus Johnson, United States Navy, chief petty officer-retired, and Sharnika Johnson of the City of Portsmouth (Va.) Sheriff's Office, Internal Affairs Division. They watched some practice video that showed their son not just coasting, but also talking back when called on it.
"I almost lost my mind," Marrecus said. "I told them right then, 'We got this.' "
Added Nika: "It was the mannerisms that got me. We raised him to be a respectful young man and I didn't think he was being respectful. … Look, I never played basketball in my life. Motor? I didn't even know what that meant. So when they said he was taking plays off, and then I got to see it, yes, it put everything in perspective. Let's just say we had nice a conversation with him."
Johnson was told (rather directly) to straighten up; that he'd worked too hard to get this opportunity; that he needed to lose the body language.
His response?
"I don't ever want to be disrespectful to anybody," Johnson said when askd to revive the moment this week. "That's not how I was raised."
Fast forward to present day. Twelve months ago, Johnson was not even starting for the Gators. His break on that front came at the expense of teammate Keith Stone, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last Jan. 19 at Georgia, nearly a year to the day. On Saturday, Johnson will start his 37th consecutive game when Florida (11-5, 3-1) takes on fourth-ranked Auburn (15-1, 3-1) in a nationally televised Southeastern Conference showdown at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center that represents a gold-star NCAA Tournament resume opportunity for a UF team struggling to find consistency.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
Johnson was sensational over the three-game Charleston Classic in November on his way to being named tournament Most Valuable Player.
The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Johnson, when he avoids foul trouble, has been one of the more consistent Gators this season to the tune of 13.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, both second-best on the team. His all-around skills set has taken huge steps, but Johnson, because he is undersized as a power forward, can only be at his best when playing aggressively and downhill on offense, buzzing on defense, and using his length and bounce on the glass to get boards or tips that lead to extra possessions.
In other words, when his motor is humming.
"He means the world to this team," said grad-transfer forward and leader Kerry Blackshear Jr., who knows a little something about bringing value to a locker room.
No doubt, the player sometimes referred to as "Keynote" (try typing his name and see what autocorrect does) fittingly holds a key to just where this UF team is headed and how good it can become.
"When Keyontae is playing hard he just impacts the game in so many ways," UF coach Mike White said. "Because he's so athletic, so long and so good around the basket, he can't help but be a factor when his effort and intensity level are at their highest."
Like where it needs to be Saturday afternoon at the O'Dome. Mom and Dad will be there.
SUNSHINE STATE ROOTS
Keyontae Johnson was born May 24, 2000 in Jacksonville, Fla., while his father was based at Naval Station Mayport. The Sunshine State ties would strengthen with time, but first the family — Marrecus and Nika, along with their two daughters and baby son — moved to Alabama as they transitioned out of the Navy.
After 9/11, though, Marrecus Johnson re-enlisted and was assigned to Norfolk, Va. The military background of both parents was reflected in their children's upbringing.
"They were expected to be respectful at all times — 'Yes, sir. No, sir.' — and look people in the eye," Nika said. "My husband was out to sea a lot, so they had to take care of things. They had chores. They were expected to do certain things and take care of one another. I kept them busy in sports and in school. The standard was set. There was no time for them to be in the street."
Said Keyontae: "We knew right from wrong and how to act. They gave us freedom, but talked to us about just using common sense. And they were strict when they needed to be."
The chores?
"I always tried to get them done Wednesday and Thursday, so I could chill with my friends on Friday."
And play with them, too. Johnson's first sport was football. With his Florida roots, the Gators were his adopted team, and Tim Tebow as his guy. He loved the game, especially the contact, and started off by playing offensive line, then eventually linebacker at the pee-wee level.
Keyontae Johnson growing up and with his family (Parents Marrecus and Nika in top row; with sisters Ebony and Brianna in bottom row this past Christmas).
In time, though, basketball became his game of choice and, obviously, the kid was good at it. He was a great shooter, actually, before a couple growth spurts — both in height and length of those arms — moved him closer to the basket.
Then came that day, early in his ninth-grade year at Norview High, when Keyontae took off on a break that ended with his first dunk. Mom and Dad were in the bleachers.
"I was like, "Ohhh, all right then!' " Marrecus said. "I figured we were on to something now."
That was about the same time Keyontae left his AAU team to join the higher-end Boo Williams organization. Soon, prep schools and prominent event hosts from around the country began reaching out and inviting him to come play. Peach Jam called. IMG called. His parents knew their son had made a name locally — around town, they called him "KeyDaKid" — but this was different.
Off to Bradenton, Fla., he went to play at IMG. Johnson had quite the team there. The point guard was Trevon Duval, who eventually signed with Duke. Emmitt Williams (LSU), Silvio DeSousa (Kansas) and Isaiah Stokes (Florida-turned-Memphis) were there, also.
Johnson, though, was not there for long.
In 2015, his mother was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. With his father deployed, Johnson came back to Virginia, to Oak Hill, about six hours from Norfolk. There, he started alongside another Johnson, Keldon, a McDonald's All-American who went to Kentucky. It was the "Johnson & Johnson Show" in whatever gyms they played. When he could, Keyontae returned home as often as possible to be with his weakened mother during her 36 rounds of chemotherapy.
"I couldn't go up the stairs, so I spent a lot of time on the couch," Nika said.
Keyontae, flanked by his friends, spent a lot of time by that couch. They played games. They kept his mom's spirits up.
"I'd see her crying sometimes," Johnson said. "But it really hit me was when I'd go see her when she had to be in the hospital."
UF coach Mike White and prospect Keyontae Johnson during a Gators "Elite Camp" in 2016.
Nika couldn't get to many games, but followed them on the Internet when possible and got reports from her husband and family members. They were usually very encouraging reports, of course, as Johnson was blossoming into quite the hit on the club team circuit, as he worked his way up the recruiting boards and received collegiate offers. He was intrigued by Florida, always his dream school, but also Providence. Both, though, were far away from his family. From his mom.
Keyontae approached his parents with an idea.
"I'll go to ODU," he said.
That would be Old Dominion University, a mid-major program up the road in Norfolk.
His suggestion led to a sit-down.
Nika told him, "I'm your mother. I take care of you, not the other way around." Together, she and Marrecus assured their son everything would be OK; that it was time to chase his dream. That dream, as it turned out, was in Gainesville.
IMPACT PLAYER
Ironically, the day Stone suffered his injury last year was also the first game Johnson started as a Gator. To that point, 16 games, he had averaged 6.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and just 18 minutes off the bench. In a battle of two 9-7 teams, Johnson scored eight points and grabbed seven boards in a career-high 32 minutes, as UF won on the road 62-52.
Over the course of the next two months, Johnson still had bouts with a stalled motor every so often, but figured some things out with extended time on the floor. Now, he looks back on that rookie season and knows exactly what everyone was talking about.
"My motor was probably a 4 or 5 early in the season," Johnson said. "By SEC Tournament, it was an 8 or 9."
In a second-round Southeastern Tournament win over Arkansas, Johnson posted 20 points and 12 rebounds in a win, becoming the first UF freshman to tally a double-double in the event in 19 years. The next night, against regular-season champion and 13th-ranked LSU, he did it again with 16 and 10, but also made the Gators' play of the game. Given the result, maybe of the season.
From the moment a UF player sets foot in the practice facility, he hears about playing off two feet. It's a White-coached staple that reduces indecision and turnovers. So it was, as the clock was winding down in a tie game, Johnson got a pass in the corner, did his patented hard baseline drive into the paint area. There, he came to a controlled jump stop, pivoted and fired a perfect pass to point guard and fellow freshman Andrew Nembhard, who walked into a textbook rhythm 3-pointer from the top of the key that splashed at the buzzer, gave UF its 19th win and put the Gators in the tournament semifinals for the first time in five years. The win, basically, put them in the NCAA Tournament, as well.
Johnson's mom, her cancer in remission, and dad were in the house.
Johnson took his game to the next level with back-to-back double-doubles in the 2019 SEC Tournament at Nashville.
The Gators lost that next game to Auburn, which has since lost a handful of outstanding players from a team that won that 2019 SEC Tournament and advanced to the first Final Four in school history. The Tigers, though, opened the '19-20 season with 15 straight wins and will come to the O'Dome with plenty of firepower. They'll see a much different UF team, as well as an improved Johnson, who In the 10 months since has honed his game to became both an inside (54-percent shooting overall) and outside threat (35 percent from 3), while making marked improvement from the free-throw line (64 percent to 77).
And the motor?
"It's better, but he's always shown it in flashes," Nichols said. "We need more of those flashes. He has to become more consistent because now everybody is paying attention to him. They're game-planning him."
Told of his coach's updated assessment, Johnson nodded. Not only was he not surprised, he respectfully agreed.
