Xavier Johnson wasn’t supposed to be here.
He sat down on the couch in his Bloomington apartment with his mother, La’Kesha, as Indiana men’s basketball was about to take on Kennesaw State on December 23, 2022. Just six days earlier, he’d suffered a broken right foot during IU’s loss at Kansas. The Woodbridge, Va. native was on the sideline three days after that injury, when Indiana hosted Elon, wearing a protective boot on his foot and using a scooter to keep it elevated. The fifth-year senior underwent surgery the next day.
In the immediate aftermath of that procedure, Xavier was extremely limited physically. La’Kesha flew to Indiana to help him through those first few weeks. He couldn’t drive, needed assistance at home, and certainly couldn’t attend the Hoosiers’ game against the Owls.
So there he sat, at home with his mom, to watch his teammates play ball. Trayce Jackson-Davis also missed the game, and the absences made things hard on IU; but the Hoosiers still found a way to win.
Watching from afar was an unfamiliar feeling for Johnson.
“It was different. It was kind of weird because I’m like, ‘I’m supposed to be on the floor right now.’ But I was cheering on my teammates,” Johnson told The Daily Hoosier at IU’s media day in September. “I was yelling and screaming at the TV like, ‘Yes! They’re finally getting it!’ But it’s about my teammates.”
That was Johnson’s first severe injury. He’d never missed an extended period of games, dating back to his early grade school days when he started playing basketball and football. So he wasn’t used to being away from his team on game day.
And it was uncommon for him to watch a game like that with La’Kesha. It was always the family watching Xavier play.
“That was so foreign to him, not to even be there,” LaKesha said in a phone interview. “(He was) being a student of the game and analyzing it. I paid close attention to him because I know that it was an adjustment. It was hard for him; I felt like it was really hard for him to be away from the game. It was new to him. Never been away like that. I was really concerned about his mental health. I just know my son and know that this is what he does. It’s been his life.”
Xavier didn’t miss another game for the rest of last season.
Staying engaged
Johnson never returned to game action in 2022-23, despite his eagerness to do so. Especially towards the end of the year, when he was further along in his rehab, he got restless. He dressed in uniform for warmups when Indiana hosted Iowa at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in late February, despite knowing he was not yet fully cleared to play. Johnson wanted to return so badly, he did whatever he could to just feel a part of the action again.
IU head coach Mike Woodson had typically been coy about Johnson’s injury status when asked about it, and that was true as ever when reporters brought up that warm-up appearance. He said he “didn’t know much yet.” But one day after that answer, the program announced Johnson would be out for the rest of the season.
But other than the Iowa and Kennesaw State games, every other game night was the same for Johnson last season. He’d emerge from the locker room in street clothes or sweats while his teammates warmed up, and sat on the bench doing whatever he could to support them. He cheered them on, encouraged them when they joined him on the sideline, and called out things he’d spot from his vantage point during games. He did the same during practices, when he wasn’t occupied with his own rehab work.
Some players, after suffering injuries, prefer to keep to themselves and maintain some distance from the rest of the team while they recover. Johnson went the other direction. He made a point of being around, every step of the way. Teammates said he was always the loudest guy on the bench.
It was important to Johnson to stay engaged with Indiana through the rest of the season, even after he knew he wouldn’t be able to return.
“I think what made him so able to be willing to do that for us is just that he’s a competitor, at the end of the day, whether or not he can play or not, but he still wants the team to win,” senior guard Anthony Leal said. “That’s just a testament to his competitiveness and what he’s about.”
That love for his teammates and desire to win — even if he wasn’t physically on the court — was a big reason why he remained as actively involved as possible. Jackson-Davis was IU’s most prominent and publicly vocal leader last year, but Johnson knew how important his role was. Younger players looked up to him and admired his leadership in spite of his unfortunate circumstance.
But it was personally beneficial for Johnson to be around the team so much, as well. Maintaining an invested presence kept him in a familiar environment and gave him a sense of normalcy, even when things weren’t normal.
“He couldn’t be taken fully out of the game. I really think that his heart was still in it, and he needed to be around it. So he stayed around it,” La’Kesha said. “It was therapeutic for him.”
As Johnson slowly worked his way back from that injury, his impatience grew stronger. He longed to regain full strength, and that took a while. He didn’t feel like himself on the court for a lot of the offseason.
Teammates saw small moments in scrimmages and pickup games where his trademark speed and explosiveness returned, and that happened more often as he progressed further in his recovery. But even if he was not yet fully right physically, he tried to act like it at times. Johnson couldn’t help himself.
Sophomore guard CJ Gunn recalled a workout in Cook Hall shortly after the season ended where the players were running three-man weaves to warm up, and Johnson finished one off with a thunderous tomahawk dunk.
“He dunked the mess out of the ball. I was like, ‘Whoa. You’re fine.’ I don’t know if he was necessarily feeling fine, but he looked fine to me,” Gunn said at IU’s media day. “It was so impactful that everybody kind of just (looked around and said), ‘You just got back…’ Coach Woody was really mad, like he was mad he came back so fast. But he knew what he was about to do.”
The unexpected elder statesman
Nearly one year later, Johnson still wasn’t supposed to be here.
Last season was set to be his final one playing college basketball. He went into 2022-23 as part of Indiana’s big senior class, along with Jackson-Davis, Race Thompson, and Miller Kopp. That was going to be his last ride.
But Johnson’s broken foot derailed those plans and brought him back to Bloomington for one more year. He announced his intention to pursue a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA in the same press release that ruled him out for the season. That led to a lot of anxiety and uncertainty, as he waited well into April to learn whether his waiver would be approved. But eventually he was cleared, and he fully turned his attention towards his sixth year in college.
Indiana overhauled a lot of its roster from last season, with the aforementioned senior class and multiple outbound transfers creating holes. Johnson was already a leader, but his presence would be even more vital on this team with so many new pieces coming together.
Woodson named him a captain, along with senior guard Trey Galloway, heading into the season. But Johnson, particularly, was the grizzled veteran on this Hoosier roster. He was Indiana’s unexpected elder statesman. His teammates ribbed him and called him an old man — Woodson would even join in occasionally. So Johnson, during the offseason and into the season, leaned into it and made his profile photo on X (formerly known as Twitter) a picture of him with an “old man” filter over his face.
Johnson embraced the role. He was just glad to get another chance to play.
“I just think whether or not he’s playing NBA or NCAA, it’s the fact that he’s still playing in a sport that he absolutely loves. He’s still playing basketball,” La’Kesha said. “He’s in his happy place.”
Johnson’s collegiate career hasn’t been straightforward, from three years at Pitt with varying roles, to adjusting to a new environment at IU, to experiencing his first major injury. So, of course, it didn’t take long for his sixth year to take a turn.
The guard started strong, with 14 points and some big plays to help IU hold off an upset-minded Florida Gulf Coast on opening night. Johnson then dropped 19 points against Army, when he went 9 for 9 at the free-throw line. But at the end of IU’s third game — against Wright State in mid-November — his situation changed.
The Hoosiers led by nine points with 1:18 remaining, and they put on a full-court press as Wright State inbounded from the baseline. Johnson was guarding Raiders guard Alex Huibregtse, who cut across the court during the play. The ball went in to another player right behind Johnson as he ran by, and he tried to adjust his momentum and make a play. But his left foot hit Huibregtse’s foot instead of the court, and he fell to the ground in agony.
Assembly Hall fell silent. Johnson went through so much in the last year just to get back on the court. And yet, there he was, laying on the ground again, getting checked out by IU’s medical staff.
Johnson eventually got up, with help, before walking off under his own power. But he wasn’t right.
He was listed as questionable on the Big Ten availability report for the next game against UConn, in New York City, and has remained in the questionable column since then. The guard played against the reigning national champions, but foul trouble limited his minutes. And between the lingering foot issue and the high-caliber opponent, he was less effective than IU needed him to be. He bounced back with a better performance against Louisville the next day.
Johnson subbed out of IU’s next game against Harvard late in the first half, and he never checked back in. There wasn’t a specific play that led to that — his foot just wasn’t feeling right, from the original injury 10 days prior. Woodson called it a “big loss” after the game, and eerily referenced the “next man up” mentality he wanted from the rest of the team. Johnson missed the next seven games, spanning all of December.
Finding himself
One of the toughest things for athletes to deal with is recovering from injuries. It creates obvious physical challenges, which vary depending on the type of injury and the severity. And while setbacks in the rehab process aren’t guaranteed to arise, those sorts of complications aren’t rare, either. It’s as trying a period as anything else athletes endure.
But the mental side of that can be just as difficult as the physical aspect. Athletes like Johnson are hardwired to live in the gym, continuously working on their games and their bodies. And when that routine is taken away from them, it can be devastating.
That’s part of why La’Kesha was so proud of how quickly Xavier adapted to his new situation last season. She saw him apply the same work ethic he typically exhibits on the court to his physical therapy and rehab.
“He was really committed to it. He followed the instructions, the guidance from the doctor. He just did what he had to do,” La’Kesha said. “He’s a fighter. He’s always been a fighter. And I’m really proud of him. I was concerned that this would really depress him. But he fought through it, and he got through it.”
It was a big lifestyle adjustment for Xavier to spend so long away from the court. He had a lot of time to himself. And he turned that into a positive thing. His parents saw real personal growth in that period.
La’Kesha said Xavier matured as he worked through his injury last year. He later got a dog — a goldendoodle named Cash — during the offseason. La’Kesha saw the new pet help Xavier become even more responsible.
With more physical limitations while recovering, Xavier settled down his off-court life and found himself as a person.
“It gave him the opportunity to start doing and developing other things,” Xavier’s father, Michael said. “It gave him the time to be able to start seeing who Xavier is, and not just the basketball player, for who Xavier really is.”
Indiana’s Xavier Johnson has a new best friend.
Cash. pic.twitter.com/shqLj4tQtL
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) September 8, 2023
A challenging month
If it was frustrating for Johnson to miss time after his first injury, it was doubly exasperating to do it again less than a year later.
Experiencing the rehab process the first time could only make the second time a little easier, as he at least knew what to expect. And this season’s injury was less severe than last year’s, so the journey wasn’t as arduous.
But it was still very hard for Johnson to endure that again after spending so long on the sideline last season.
“It’s been tough for him. I mean, you go back-to-back years where you’re not playing basketball. We went into this season expecting him to be on the floor,” Woodson said in mid-December while Johnson healed. “I know it’s tough on him. It’s tough on us.”
The sixth-year approached his role on the Hoosiers while he was out the same way he did last year. He stayed around the team as much as possible and remained a vocal leader from the bench. He knew how much his team needed that presence, and he knew how much it would help him get through this suddenly recurring obstacle.
Still, December was difficult for Johnson.
“The month has been challenging,” he said. “I tried to stay in it with my teammates, kept my conditioning up. I just tried to be a positive impact on the team even though I’m not playing.”
Johnson had hoped to return by the Kennesaw State game in late December, as he’d made clear progress in his recovery. He’d been out of a walking boot for over a week. But it didn’t quite work out, and his comeback had to wait until conference play restarted in January.
Still, the sixth-year was with the Hoosiers at Assembly Hall that night like always — except for the Kennesaw State game a year earlier. This time, he could at least watch the game from the bench instead of at home. After IU’s starting lineup was introduced and the game was about to begin, Johnson huddled with the starters on the court to motivate them before tip-off.
If he couldn’t be in uniform, himself, that was the next best thing.
Returning to action, again
If Johnson’s full importance to the 2023-24 Hoosiers wasn’t evident entering the season, it became glaringly clear when he was out. Indiana’s guard depth became thin with both the sixth-year and freshman Jakai Newton unavailable.
But beyond simple roster numbers, IU missed Johnson’s skill set throughout December while he recovered. He’s the team’s fastest player, and he routinely uses that quickness to create for himself and his teammates. His mind seems to also move faster than everyone else’s on the court, as he sometimes sees a look about to open for another player before they see it themselves. That can work against Johnson sometimes, when it causes a play to get away from him; but it can also lead to dazzling passes that fill highlight reels.
Indiana doesn’t have another playmaker as effective as Johnson. Gabe Cupps had some good moments in a bigger role with the sixth-year unavailable, but the freshman is not yet at Johnson’s level.
He could’ve made the difference in Indiana’s tight loss to Kansas, and his speed and decisiveness could’ve helped IU keep the Auburn game a little closer.
“Not having X, and I’m not using that as an excuse, I mean he’s a senior point guard that can score the ball and make plays for us, especially when we’re being pressured like we were,” Woodson said after the Auburn game, “that hurt.”
His return to action wasn’t as smooth as anyone hoped. Johnson struggled through what Woodson called “14 awful minutes” during IU’s loss at Nebraska in early January. He’d logged just two practices ahead of that game, and was clearly still shaking off rust and reacclimating to game shape.
But three days later, against Ohio State, Johnson looked like the best version of himself. He was a threat every time he touched the ball, whether as a scorer or a distributor. He made smart decisions, played good defense, and stepped up in big moments.
Johnson was frustrated with his performance in Nebraska and channeled that into his mindset against the Buckeyes.
“I was definitely motivated,” he said after the OSU game. “I haven’t been myself lately. I’ve been off for a month, so I was trying to find a rhythm in that game. I was doing a little bit too much on the offensive end. Tonight, I let the game come to myself. I trusted my coaching staff, trusted my teammates to make the right play.”
One last ride in college basketball
Johnson entered this season at IU with a lot of goals. He’s working towards dreams of being selected in the NBA Draft and playing professionally. Individually, he’s aiming for 2,000 career points, combined between Indiana and Pitt. Johnson set a freshman scoring record at Pitt with 512 points in 2018-19, and he hasn’t reached that mark again, for various reasons.
It’s unrealistic for Johnson to get to 1,000 points as a Hoosier — he’d need 397 more, in less than a full season. But he’s 245 points away from 2,000 for his career, and that mark is plausible. After his 18-point effort against Ohio State, he’d need to score around 14.4 points per game to get to 2,000 during IU’s first Big Ten Tournament game. He hasn’t scored at that rate since he joined the Hoosiers, but he had only one full season to do so.
But most of all, Xavier Johnson wants to win with the Hoosiers. It’s why he worked so hard to overcome two injuries in a 12-month span. It’s why he’s back in Bloomington at all.
“I want to win,” Johnson said at IU’s media day. “That’s the last thing on my list to do in college is to win.”
The guard returned to IU this year hungry for his final season, with refreshed perspective after experiencing life without playing basketball. When he watched the Kennesaw State game at home in 2022, Xavier told La’Kesha he wouldn’t give up and he wouldn’t take anything for granted when he returned to the court.
This season delivered Johnson an unwelcome reminder of that outlook. And while he’ll relish his remaining time with the teammates and coaches he loves, no matter how the season finishes, he’s focused on ending his college career on a high note.
“He’s been working hard every single day,” Gunn said after the Ohio State game. “He’s hungry for this, and we’re counting on him. Even though he was out with his injury, we were here for him, to help pick him up. He’s our captain. He’s our guard. So we all look to him for leadership, and he’s done an absolutely amazing role doing that. He’s going to help us lead us through this Big Ten (season) and hopefully win the championship.”
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