HIGH FIVE: Tre Johnson Anchors Bobcat 'Wall'

[msusportsinfo]

Brad Huse calls it The Wall.

In Huse’s vernacular, The Wall is not a Pink Floyd album or a defensive line, but the last line of defense thrown up by a basketball team near the basket. And this year’s Bobcat team, with Mohamed Fall at center and Tre Johnson manning the four, or power forward, spot, has a Wall.

“(Facing a team with) guys with length that can change shots, that is always on the back of an offensive player’s mind,” said Huse. “We have some lengthy players along the back line, and it’s nice to have that wall built.”

The Bobcat big men have been busy blocking shots in 2011-12, leading the Big Sky with 3.9 per game. In other words, that is 70 shots over the course of 18 games that could have gone in the basket but didn’t because a Bobcat got his hand on the ball on its way to the goal. Logically, MSU is the only team with two of the league’s top seven swat men – and in fact, Mohamed Fall leads the Big Sky (1.5 per game), while Tre Johnson is third (1.1).

For Johnson, a bouncy 6-7 sophomore who has started the last seven games, the midway mark of this season provided a breakout point. That’s when he joined the starting lineup, and since then he’s averaged 8.7 points and 7.1 rebounds a game, but has progressively solidified MSU’s front line on both ends of the court. In the last five games he has scored 44 points, but grabbed 43 rebounds. The capstone of the conference season so far is his first collegiate double-double, a 14-point, 10-rebound performance against Sacramento State.

While Johnson hasn’t had to assert himself offensively to the point of forcing bad shots, Huse said his package of offensive skills has helped the team operate highly efficiently at times. “He’s done a really good job of handling the basketball,” Huse said. “The way we operate on offense the four man has to handle the ball. He’s made really good decisions, I think he’s brought some balance to our offense, and with his energy and length he can create opportunities when he doesn’t have the ball. Tre’s done a really good job within the confines of what we’re doing.”

Below is a quick look at Bobcat forward Tre Johnson…

Bigger rush: slam dunk or big blocked shot?
Probably a slam dunk. It gets our crowd going if we’re home, or shuts the other (team’s) crowd up, and it getseverybody on the bench hyped. A blocked shot does that, but not to the level of a dunk.

Can you see a blocked shot opportunity coming, or is it just an instantaneous reaction?
You can definitely see it developing. If you see a wing and just know they’re going to be forced baseline and someone’s going to get beat, you have to be ready to jump over there at the right time.

Did you have a “welcome to DI moment” as a freshman?
Probably when I got dunked on by one of the Wyoming guards in like our first scrimmage (in 2010-11), and I got dunked on like three different times in a row. I was just like, man, I’m not used to getting dunked on.

You were a good football player in high school, what led you to basketball in college?
Basically I just like basketball a lot more. I played football my whole life, but it got to the point where it was just something to do and I didn’t have fun playing it any more, and basketball’s what I love to do.

[CatBlitz]

Thanks! Loved the interview.

[CARDIAC_CATS]

I am a big Kentucky fan and I see a lot of similarities in this years Cat team to the Wildcats (Poor man's Wildcat team). Both teams have really good length on the wings/center spots and are hoping for some scoring/defense out of their point guards who are good players but not steller offensive players (Teague/Singleton). Our frontcourt is built very similiar to Kentucky's frontcourt. I know Kentucky has Mcdonald's All Americans and probably the 1st round pick in the NBA in Davis, but just watching the two teams I do see a lot of similiarities in the height/build of our team makeup and the style they play (Johnson-Jones/Gilchrest, Fall- Davis, Reid-Jones, Allou-Miller, Budnich -Wiltjer). It really is pretty simliar size/makeup wise across the board.

I do like the balance we have on offense this year as well. Like Huse said they don't have to rely on 1-2 players for the scoring but score as a team. Those type teams tend to usually do better in the tournaments as well.