WAC Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)
By Joey Loose
16. Justin Johnson
Johnson is a 6’6 wing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida who got his college career started off at South Georgia Technical College. After two years at the junior college level, he arrived at Southern Miss during the pandemic. After modest production with the Golden Eagles, he transferred to UTRGV in 2021, spending the final two seasons of his career with the Vaqueros.
Joining newly hired Matt Figger’s program, Johnson became an important contributor for the Vaqueros even if the program struggled in the WAC. He’d average 17.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in his first season in Texas, putting up 35 points on Northern Arizona in just his fourth game with the program. He’d top that with a 38-point performance against Cal Baptist but was even more potent as a senior, averaging 20.3 points per game.
Johnson earned First Team All-WAC honors in that final collegiate season, having settled for the Second Team nod the previous year. While UTRGV would finish 11th in conference play in both seasons, Johnson really blossomed, becoming one of the league’s top offensive players. He led the league in scoring in that final season and totaled 1179 points in just two years with the Vaqueros. Johnson was a heavily utilized and important piece at UTRGV in recent years and will certainly be missed this upcoming season.