David Johnson's "shoulder is fine," named ACC Freshman of the Week
David Johnson was named Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Freshman of the Week for games Jan. 13-19, the league announced Jan. 20. Johnson is the first player for Louisville men’s basketball to earn the honor since Jordan Nwora in 2018.
Johnson helped lead Louisville to a pair of conference road victories last week. The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 15.0 points, 5.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds and shot 57.9 percent from the field in Louisville’s victories over Pittsburgh and third-ranked Duke.
Johnson scored in double figures for the first time in his career in Louisville’s overtime win over Pitt. He had 11 points and four assists in 20 minutes as a reserve. Louisville coach Chris Mack called Johnson’s performance against Pitt his best game, but the Louisville native had an even better showing at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
Johnson had a team-high 19 points, along with seven assists, four rebounds and three steals against Duke. He went 8 of 12 from the field in Louisville’s first road win over a top-3 ranked team since 2010.
Johnson, who suffered a shoulder injury in late July and missed nearly four months as he recovered from surgery, appeared to reaggravate his shoulder with 3:25 left in the second half against Duke. Johnson did not return to the game, but Mack said “The shoulder is fine. He’s just a little sore, but he’ll practice the next couple of days and we fully expect him to play on Wednesday,” during an ACC coaches teleconference Jan. 20.
Johnson’s 19 points were the most by a Louisville player off the bench against an Associated Press (AP) top-three ranked opponent since Russ Smith scored 30 points against third-ranked Kentucky in 2011.
