When the college basketball season tipped off, former Ankeny star Carson Johnson wasn’t even expected to play for the MSU Moorhead squad.
“The plan for me at the start of the year was to redshirt,” said Johnson, a freshman guard. “Then our two great older guards got injured, and that’s when they asked if I wanted to pull my redshirt.”
Johnson was inserted into the starting lineup four days before Christmas, scoring 22 points in his collegiate debut against Minnesota-Crookston. It was just a glimpse of things to come.
Johnson erupted for a career-high 42 points in a double-overtime victory against St. Cloud State on Feb. 1, the sixth-highest point tally in a single game in school history. Just 11 games into his career, he had already become the Dragons’ go-to player.
“We believed he was a dang good basketball player,” said MSU Moorhead coach Tim Bergstraser. “We felt like maybe we had an opportunity to save him his year with even more development and just getting him stronger. But when we did pull the redshirt, I told him, ‘We’re not going to pull it and have you come off the bench and play 10 minutes. You’re going to start and play 30-plus minutes.’ Ever since that first game, he just took it and ran with it. That just shows how much confidence he has.”
Earlier this week, Johnson continued to reach unprecedented heights. On Tuesday at Sioux Falls, S.D., he scored 27 points to lead MSU Moorhead to a 78-66 win over Minot State in the championship game of the NSIC Tournament.
Johnson, who also had five rebounds and four steals, became the first freshman in league history to be named tournament MVP. He was also selected to the all-tournament team, becoming just the third freshman in NSIC history to receive that honor.
“The MVP recognition is nice, but there was a lot that my teammates and coaches poured into me to be able to go and do that,” Johnson said.
Johnson scored a total of 78 points in the tournament. He went 6-of-9 from 3-point range and had 28 points in the quarterfinals against Augustana (S.D.) on Sunday, then followed with 23 in the semifinals against Winona State on Monday.
In the championship game, Johnson took over in the second half–scoring most of his points in the final 20 minutes.
“This young man steps up and hits a bunch of big-time shots,” Bergstraser said in the postgame press conference while sitting next to Johnson. “We had a nice, little friendly conversation there on the court. He had that tough first half, but he knows I’ve got all the trust in this young man to shoot as much as he wants. When have I told you not to shoot the ball, right?”
Johnson replied: “Never.”
“I think that’s just why he’s so stinking good,” Bergstraser continued. “He has that freedom for our team, and our whole group feels the same thing.”
Johnson is now averaging a team-high 20.1 points on 42.0 percent shooting from deep (55-of-131).
“Even when I was redshirting, I was still in the gym getting my work in every day,” Johnson said. “I knew that when I got my shot I would be ready for it. My teammates and coaches did a great job of getting me ready once my time was here. There were a lot of mistakes right away, but they helped me learn from them and continue to play with confidence. This really helped me play at the level I was at during the tournament, and there was no doubt in my mind that we could go win it.”
Johnson’s work ethic clearly played a big role in his meteoric rise from scout-team player to tournament MVP.
“You should see how much time this guy puts in the gym,” Bergstraser said. “The young man is obsessed with basketball. He puts in the time, and there’s no secret to why he’s having the success that he is.”
MSU Moorhead (23-8) captured the tournament title for the third time in four seasons. The Dragons had tied for third place in the 15-team league during the regular season, when the top eight teams were separated by just two games in the final standings.
“The conference has a ton of great teams this year, but we just started clicking and playing our best basketball at the right time,” Johnson said. “I’m not really surprised. Everyone in our locker room believed in our team this whole year. Even in the rough stretch of our season, we still knew what we are capable of as a team if we play the right way.”
MSU Moorhead was fourth in the Central Region in the final NCAA Regional Rankings. The Dragons are No. 24 in the nation in the National Association of Basketball Coaches top-25 poll.
MSU Moorhead now awaits its selection to the NCAA Central Region Tournament. By winning the NSIC Tournament, the Dragons earned the conference’s automatic qualifier spot.
The NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Selection Show is scheduled for Sunday at 10 p.m. The show will be streamed live on NCAA.com.