Marquette Basketball: Golden Eagles pick up Utah grad transfer Jayce Johnson

Marquette Basketball had scholarships to fill after losing two sweet-shooting forwards. The Golden Eagles plugged one of those slots with a 7-footer who is yet to attempt a three-pointer. What does the Jayce Johnson addition mean for MU’s frontcourt rotation and offensive ideology heading into 2019-20?

On Tuesday afternoon, shortly after the announcement that head coach Steve Wojciechowski had earned an extension through the 2023-24 season, the Marquette hoops news dump continued, this time with word that the Golden Eagles had landed Utah grad transfer Jayce Johnson.

Johnson, who checks in at 7-feet and 235 lbs, started 25 of 29 games for the Utes last season, and averaged 7.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game.

He certainly has some touch around the rim, shooting nearly 60 percent from the field in 2018-19, but his free throw percentages are all but guaranteed to send MU fans to their local watering hole. Johnson shot just 40 percent from the line last season, and is sub-50 percent for his career.

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Wojo is no stranger to the grad transfer market, but after bringing in guards Matt Carlino, Katin Reinhardt, and Joseph Chartouny throughout his first five seasons on the job, this will be his first foray with a grad transfer big man.

Right away, the first question is how much will Johnson play? Marquette certainly has plenty of frontcourt minutes available after losing the two Hauser brothers, yet Johnson’s skill set largely overlaps with Theo John and Ed Morrow, the two returning bigs on the roster. Last season, Johnson, John, and Morrow combined to attempt 395 shots. Of those attempts, zero were from beyond the arc, and 78 percent of them were at the rim. When the trio did drift ever so slightly away from point-blank range, they were remarkably inefficient, collectively shooting just 35 percent on all shots not categorized as dunks or layups.

Wojciechowski has used twin tower lineups before – notably with Henry Ellenson and Luke Fischer in 2015-16. But Ellenson was a future first-round NBA selection who had range out to the three-point line and Fischer was a capable post player inside. None of Marquette’s current bigs are in Ellenson’s stratosphere, and they all fall well short of Fischer’s offensive capabilities as well.

Theoretically, the 6-foot-7 Morrow could soak up power forward minutes next to John or Johnson. Heck, even John is relatively undersized for a center at 6-foot-9, meaning he could slide down the position spectrum as well. But by pulling John and Morrow away from the basket, the coaching staff would be limiting their primary skills as rim protectors and putting them at risk of picking up more fouls in space.

Speaking of fouls – Marquette now has 3 of the 40 worst foul rates in the country among high-major players who were on the floor for at least 35 percent of their team’s minutes last season. John continues to foul everyone in sight, and Morrow and Johnson were only marginally better. There’s a decent chance this move was simply about picking up insurance for John – the projected starter – when he undoubtedly picks up his second foul with 14 minutes remaining in the first half. Now all three can foul to their heart’s delight and play anywhere from 10-22 minutes per game.

The Golden Eagles have built their reputation on perimeter shooting in the Wojo era, leading the nation in three-point accuracy over the last three years. That will almost certainly not be the case in 2019-20. Sharpshooting Markus Howard is still in town, but with the current brick brothers triumvirate down low, and the inconsistent Koby McEwen, Sacar Anim, Greg Elliott, Brendan Bailey, and Jamal Cain on the wing, its clear Wojciechowski will be forced to reshape his offensive system.

(6-foot-9 Ike Eke is the great unknown for Marquette, but after missing each of the past two seasons with a back injury, it’s seems safe to say the program was looking for more frontcourt depth.)

One area where the Golden Eagles could make up for poor shooting is on the offensive boards. Offensive rebounding has never been a major priority for Wojo’s teams – they haven’t finished higher than 131st in the nation in that area during his tenure – but he may need to adapt to his roster’s strengths. Morrow, Johnson, and John all finished in the 94th percentile or better last season in offensive rebounding, and Cain and Bailey are both capable rebounders who love to sneak inside and poach boards for easy buckets. The Big East is not exactly teeming with high-quality big men at the moment, so Marquette may be able to zig while the rest of the conference is zagging.

The Johnson fit is indeed a strange one, but he’s at least a quality rotation player who should provide legitimate depth and value in certain matchups. It’s now up to Wojciechowski and the coaching staff to figure out how to best blend Marquette’s intriguing roster pieces ahead of this critical 2019-20 campaign.