Another game, another scouting report. This time, I'm profiling noted Wake killer and Winston-Salem product, big man Reggie Johnson. As a Wake fan I have a burning dislike for Reggie, considering last year he had 20+ points in a game that Miami only won by one point, and I refuse to believe that he didn't travel on at least one of those baskets (no I'm not bitter, why do you ask?).
Regardless, there is no denying that he's an absolute hoss and is a matchup nightmare for the Deacs considering his ability to rebound and eat up space inside. Of course, all of that isn't even considering his track record against Wake, which is also extremely good.
For statistical breakdowns, gameplans, and predictions, read more after the jump...
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6'10", 284Yeah, he's huge. And he's slimmed down from last year, when I believe he was over 300 pounds. Pretty sure he's the largest player we'll face this year.
PPG: 11.4
Reggie is undeniably a scoring threat. He obviously doesn't shoot from deep (he's taken six attempts all year and made three of them), but he powers over people inside and is very much able to pour it on. Frankly, I fear he'll be able to have a field day, though I'm a little more hopeful given how much Ty Walker and even Carson Desrosiers have improved defensively.
RPG:7.1
He's also a beast on the glass. Not only does he rack them up, his percentages are also quite notable. He has an 18.9% DR%, and a 10,8% OR%. This isn't even close to best in the country or anything, but it is really really good, and especially since Johnson's teammate Kenny Kadji has also emerged as a legitimate frontcourt presence, Johnson doesn't NEED to rebound as much as some. He's getting those percentages with another frontcourt guy putting up really solid numbers. That's scary.
eFG%: 52.8%
Really strong percentage here, especially without the use of the three, The good news is he's no Mike Scott in that regard. He's going to miss his fair share of shots (he's 51.8% raw shooting percentage on approximately 4-8 attempts per game) and isn't as much of a mid-range threat.
FREE THROWS: 71.4% (on approximately 3-4 attempts per game)
Good, but not great here. Particularly solid for a guy of his size, but I'm actually surprised by how infrequently he gets to the line. I expected a lot more than that, truthfully.
BPG: 1.1
Not a bigtime shot blocker, but he is a defensive presence inside.
APG: 1.5
Pretty decent assist numbers for a guy like Reggie. He's not going to pass a lot, but again, he doesn't need to. Not only is he a big guy, but his %Shots (the percentage of shots taken by him when he's on the floor) is 21.8%, while the percentage of possessions he takes possession of the ball when he's on the floor is 22.8%. Unless I'm misreading my stats, that means he takes shots extremely often when he gets the ball.
Another noteworthy stat is that Reggie turns the ball over a lot. In terms of raw number, he's good for 1.7 turnovers a game, and his TO% via KenPom is 16.1%. Just to contextualize this, C.J. Harris's percentage is 18.6%, which is bad, but C.J. is a bigtime ball handler. As KenPom says about TO%, a guy who is a spot up shooter or a big who doesn't have to dribble the ball much is going to have an artificially deflated percentage.
Honestly, as I said, the most we can hope for is Ty, Carson, and Nikita continuing their solid rebounding of late and, if we want to try and shock the world, we need to be draining threes and taking care of the ball. We're not going to be able to grind it out against Miami.
In lieu of a prediction, let's make things a little interesting. If Miami doesn't win tomorrow I will compose a Shakespearean sonnet extolling the virtues of our coaching staff and our leading scorer. Make me wax poetic, boys.