Kedren Johnson's resurgence gives struggling Memphis hope
Three minutes remained in Memphis' convincing 63-50 victory over Cincinnati on Thursday night when Kedren Johnson knifed into the lane, spun past forward Gary Clark and scored a SportsCenter-worthy acrobatic layup.
It was the signature moment from a 13-point, five-assist performance from Johnson that gave Memphis three things it hasn't enjoyed all season.
A victory over a quality opponent. Competent point guard play. Hope of a midseason turnaround.
Having graduated its four top guards from last year's NCAA tournament team, Memphis (10-6) dropped its four most challenging non-league games and its opening two league games because its backcourt play was inadequate. Ice-cold outside shooting and a lack of wing scoring were certainly issues, but the most glaring problem was the absence of a capable point guard.
Johnson, Vanderbilt's leading scorer during the 2012-13 season, was expected to inherit the starting point guard job but he arrived rusty and out of shape after sitting out last year due to an academic issue. The 6-foot-4 junior played sparingly in November and December, never getting off the bench in five of Memphis' first 14 games and scoring only a total of five baskets in the other nine.
With Johnson not coming close to living up to expectations, point guard duties fell largely to sophomore Pookie Powell. The 6-foot-1 guard proved largely unprepared for that responsibility, posting nearly as many turnovers as assists while shooting 40 percent from the field and 25.7 percent from behind the arc.
Point guard appeared likely to be a season-long black hole for Memphis until Johnson finally began showing signs of his Vanderbilt days in the Tigers' last two games. He came off the bench to deliver 10 points and four assists in 17 minutes during a 62-44 rout of Houston on Sunday. Then he followed that up by torching a typically stifling Cincinnati defense with crisp passing and dribble penetration.
There's no guarantee Johnson will keep performing at this level the rest of the season, but if he does, Memphis is a vastly better team than it has shown to this point. Suddenly the Tigers have a dribble penetration threat capable of finishing at the rim, setting up frontcourt standouts Austin Nichols, Shaq Goodwin and Trashon Burrell or kicking to Avery Woodson for open threes.
If whether Johnson can build on his past two performances is the biggest question facing Memphis, the follow-up to that is whether it's too little, too late.
The Tigers (10-6) entered Thursday's game 113th in the NCAA's RPI thanks to a complete dearth of quality wins and losses to Wichita State, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Stephen F. Austin, SMU and Tulane. Beating No. 34 Cincinnati will certainly help, but Memphis has a long, uphill climb ahead of it to emerge from the early-season hole it dug and get back into NCAA tournament contention.
Nonetheless, what Johnson's recent play does is make it seem plausible.
Memphis isn't necessarily an NCAA tournament team just because its most talented guard has finally played to his potential for two games, but the Tigers have no chance of reaching the postseason if Johnson doesn't keep it up.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
