Ex-Husky Center Penn-Johnson Leaves LSU for Undetermined Time

Former University of Washington center Bryan Penn-Johnson has left his new basketball team, LSU, at least temporarily, and returned home for what might be a bad case of homesickness. Or more reflection.

The 7-footer is in Long Beach, California, missed a pair of LSU games and will be absent for an undetermined time, Tigers coach Will Wade said.

'This is the farthest he's ever been away from home," Wade said. "He was a little homesick and has some family issues he's working through. So we gave him some time. He won't be with us for the foreseeable future."

Penn-Johnson, who appeared well-liked by his teammates in Seattle, played in just 11 games over two seasons for the Huskies and transferred out in July. It appears he simply got impatient waiting around to play for Mike Hopkin's program.

While he seemed agile enough for a big man, Penn-Johnson had an extremely limited shooting range and noticeably bad hands when people fed the ball low to him.

Not much changed for him once he joined LSU, where he's drawn very limited minutes in five games with the SEC team, averaging 2 points and 3 rebounds per game.

Once a 4-star recruit, Penn-Johnson's departure from the UW seemed ill-timed because last season's starting big men, freshmen Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels, left for the NBA last spring , New Zealand center Sam Timmons graduated and all inside jobs were open.

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