Although Bowling Green wasn’t able to escape the Breslin Center with an upset victory on Saturday night, senior forward Marcus Johnson earned a lot of new fans in his first national television appearance.
“That big fella, he wasn’t Marcus Johnson; he was Magic Johnson for that early stretch,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said postgame.
Johnson dominated early in the game, knocking down a baseline fadeaway jumper, a three-pointer from the left wing and a scoop layup while falling to the floor in the first five minutes of the contest.
He ended with a game-high 23 points and led the Falcons with five rebounds and two assists in just his fourth game in the Orange and Brown.
“We are asking a lot out of him. This is his fourth Division I game as a D2 transfer,” BGSU head coach Todd Simon said. “He is a dynamic player that we move all over the floor, kind of playing him like a guard with his size, which messes up some coverages and allows our guards to break free.”
Although he led all players in scoring, it was a rare bad shooting night for Johnson. The Akron, Ohio, native shot 9-24 from the field and just 1-11 on three-pointers.
“I don’t think you will see him go 1-for-11 too often, he’s shooting 57 (percent) going into the game, and we always think it’s going in when he shoots it,” Simon said. “We didn’t want him to play 35 minutes, but that kind of dictated the situation with all the limitations with foul trouble, so we had to let him go for a little bit, and he did a great job.”
While Johnson is a special talent, Izzo was more impressed by his moves near the rim rather than his shooting.
“He’s unique, and he hadn’t got in the post much. I think he’s harder to guard in the post than he is in the perimeter. Maybe this will help them get him down in the post more because he’s got some moves down there,” Izzo said. “We hadn’t seen him in the post, so you’d say, ‘Why didn’t we double him?’ He is a phenomenal passer. He’s like (Nikola) Jokic; he can really pass the ball.”
The comparisons from the Hall of Fame coach did not stop there.
“It seems like history repeats itself, but I thought that was Popeye Jones myself,” Izzo said. “Popeye Jones played in the league, so that is a compliment.”
After his first four games at the Division I level, Johnson is averaging 18.8 points per game on 46.6% shooting from the field and 40.6% from beyond the arc. Johnson is tied for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) lead with 75 points this season.
