Markell Johnson Top-10 in Nation for Assist %

Markell Johnson re-emerged against South Carolina State after 3 sub-par performances with a season-high 12 assists.

During that 3 game dip, Johnson tallied 7 assists and 7 turnovers and only logged an average of 21 minutes per game. Put that against the other 6 games this season where Johnson put up 56 assists and 16 turnovers in over 28 minutes per contest, and you can see that something just wasn’t right.

There is no concrete explanation of what happened, but that dip did coincide with both the emergence of PG Braxton Beverly (after being granted eligibility) and some tougher competition.

The point is, Markell Johnson hasn’t been firing on all cylinders for the entirety of the season, yet he still sits at #9 overall in the nation in ‘Assist %.’ Think about that. That’s how good he’s been at putting his team in a position to score.

What exactly is ‘Assist % and why is it important? Here is what SportingCharts.com has to say about it:

Although the formula itself looks a bit more complicated, the basic idea is to look at all the shots made from the field while a certain player was in the game, and find the percentage of those shots the player assisted on. This value indicates how much “control” a player has over the offense in terms of how many scores are a direct result of his passing ability.

This shows you just how important it is to have a confident Markell Johnson on the floor. When he’s on, he’s controlling the basketball game with his quickness and his vision.

Surely, Kevin Keatts is well aware of this and the current handling of Markell Johnson (seeing fewer minutes per game) is more about building him into a true leader and holding him to the highest standard than it is about punishing him for a bad couple of games.

Markell Johnson is going to be a true star at NC State. You’re seeing the numbers and you’re watching it with your own eyes. The sooner he gets there, the sooner the Wolfpack becomes a legit ACC contender. We believe that correlation is direct.