By PAUL GOTHAM
Melvin Johnson‘s family and friends might travel from the Bronx to fill in seats behind VCU’s bench when the Rams take on Saint Joseph’s Hawks in an Atlantic 10 matchup, Tuesday night.
Johnson will also have an admirer in an unlikely place: the opposing bench.
Hawks’ coach Phil Martelli doesn’t need an introduction to the Rams senior guard.
“He can’t have a bigger fan,” Martelli said during the Atlantic 10’s weekly tele-conference. “I think that he is one of the elite shooting guards in this league.”
Johnson connected on six of seven from behind the arc when VCU downed Saint Joseph’s 89-74 at the Siegel Center in Richmond, Virginia last season. The barrage reminded Martelli of what VCU was missing in the 2014 Atlantic 10 championship game.
“Our 2014 championship, I’m well aware we earned that. Those guys Langston Galloway and Halil Kanacevic, Ron Roberts, Chris Wilson,” Martelli said recalling his players. “They’re Atlantic 10 champs for life. But I’m aware that Melvin Johnson did not play in that game. He got injured earlier in the Atlantic 10 tournament.
“I’m a monster fan. I told the young man that.”
Johnson leads the Rams in scoring through 14 games this season with 18.6 points per contest, up from 12.4 a year ago. He is also handing out more assists (2.3 in comparison to 1.8) and has increased his steals from one to 1.6.
It comes as surprise that the seeds for this improvement were sown during the off-season.
“He lost some weight this summer,” first year head coach Will Wade stated. “We asked him to lose 20-22 pounds. He kept an unbelievable diet. We’d go out to eat, and he’d eat salads and stuff. I’d feel terrible eating hamburgers or something.”
Fueled by the change in his eating habits, Johnson channeled his efforts.
“His work ethic has just been through the roof, off the charts in terms of sticking with a routine and putting in the work every day,” Wade added.
The results speak for themselves.
Johnson has steadily improved throughout his career going from 6.9 points per game his freshman season to 10.4 as a sophomore. Despite taking almost two more attempts behind the arc per contest this year as compared to last, he has upped his accuracy from 36.3 percent (86 for 237) to 45.7 (53 for 116).
But it’s more than that. The past two seasons, Johnson played a complimentary role in the Rams offense behind the likes of Treveon Graham and Juvonte Reddic. Per KenPom this season the percentage of offensive possessions when Johnson contributes has jumped from 21.4 percent to 24.7. He has responded to the added workload by increasing his offensive rating from 112.1 to 126.6.
“Until recently he’s also been the back-up point guard,” Martelli noted. “For a guy that has a scorer’s mentality and limitless range to take on that role speaks volumes about him.”
Johnson registered a career high, 36 earlier this season on 14-of-24 shooting including 8-of-14 behind the arc in a 76-71 loss at Florida State. He has scored in double figures in all but one game this season and has topped the 20-point plateau in three of his last four games.
“He’s always had a scorer’s mentality in high school,” said Wade who was an assistant coach under Shaka Smart during Johnson’s freshman season. “He scored it pretty good for a freshman at this level. When you have a scorer’s mentality, a good work ethic and you’re in the best shape of your life and you’re on a team that needs you to score I think that allows those attributes to come to the forefront and take over a little bit.”
VCU and Saint Joseph’s will tip off at 7 p.m. tonight. The game will be televises on the American Sports Network.
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