STARKVILLE — Roshunda Johnson was 6 years old when Vinnie Johnson won his first NBA title.
Known as “the Microwave,” Vinnie Johnson was part of guard rotation with Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars that helped the Detroit Pistons win NBA titles in 1989 and 1990. Johnson’s ability to come off the bench and provide an instant scoring jolt earned him the nickname “Microwave” from Danny Ainge, who was playing for the Boston Celtics at the time.
Johnson was a double-figure scorer in eight of his 10 seasons in Detroit. In that time, he averaged more than 29 minutes per game only twice. He also shot better than 43 percent from the field every year.
Roshunda Johnson has only played two games for the No. 10 Mississippi State women’s basketball team, but she already has co-opted the moniker of the former Pistons great.
“I would like to introduce you to the current human microwave here at Mississippi State, better known as Roshunda (Ro) Johnson,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said Monday afternoon.
Schaefer smiled as he made the comment, but the veteran coach wasn’t joking about the impact Johnson had in MSU’s victories against Villanova and Maine on Friday and Saturday in the Maine Tipoff Tournament in Bangor, Maine. The 5-foot-7 guard scored 21 points in 14 minutes in a 108-62 victory against Villanova. She followed that up with a 14-point effort (13 minutes) in an 87-43 victory against Maine. The efforts earned Johnson a spot on the all-tournament team with junior Victoria Vivians, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
“It is all about my team. They give me confidence,” Johnson said. “I know they have my back, and I know I have to work hard coming off the bench. I have to do what we do every day at practice, and that is what I did.”
Johnson was 12 of 14 from the field, including 7 of 8 from 3-point range, in the victories. Against Villanova, she saw more playing time at point guard. The former Oklahoma State standout said she is comfortable leading the team or playing on a wing to balance the floor. That flexibility figures to work well with a backcourt that includes senior Dominique Dillingham, juniors Vivians, Morgan William, and Blair Schaefer, sophomore Jazzmun Holmes, and freshman Jacaira Allen.
Schaefer believed Johnson could give the Bulldogs that kind of production when she joined the program. Johnson, a member of the 2015 Big 12 Conference All-Tournament Team and a member of the 2014 Big 12 All-Freshman Team, had to sit out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. Schaefer praised Johnson’s work in practice early in the 2015-16 season, saying several times she was the team’s best player. He hopes she can continue to work back into form to add depth to a team that is looking to build on a program-best 28-win season and its second trip to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.
“I don’t think I have ever seen a kid come off of the bench and shoot it as well as she did in her first two games back after sitting out a year,” said Schaefer, whose team will take on Tulane at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi. “She’ll tell you she probably missed a couple of charges, but at the same time offensively really provided us with a big punch. When you shoot 86 percent, you are doing some really special things shooting the ball.”
Johnson admits she has “a lot more to go, especially on defense” to get back to where she knows she can be. She acknowledged she missed a couple of charges, but she is still adjusting to how Schaefer expects the Bulldogs to play defense. She said she was nervous in her first game as a Bulldogs, but she relied on the confidence of her teammates to gain her footing.
“You have to think every shot you take is going to go in,” Johnson said. “I had a lot of confidence and my team, and coaches had confidence in me as well. I knew I could go out there and play hard and leave it all on the floor.”
Vivians, who scored all of her 26 points in the first half against Maine, said the Bulldogs know Johnson can be a deadly weapon coming off the bench.
“She is amazing. I am glad she is on my team,” Vivians said. “I knew what she had before anybody else did. She has gone against us every day in practice, and she was working out with us over the summer. Seeing her actually do it in the game amazed me, and I think it amazed a lot of people. Her being able to factor in what she has is going to help us a lot.”
Johnson said she is willing to work in “any spot” she can to help the team. She understands she likely won’t average as many minutes (34.9) as she did as a sophomore at Oklahoma State. But if her shooting touch remains hot, she just might match the scoring average she had in her second season at OSU (11.3 points per game) and give MSU another weapon on both ends of the floor.
“I know I can play both spots, and I do what my team needs,” Johnson said. “If they need me at the one, I am going to play it and if they need me at the two, I am going to play it. It is whatever the team needs at the time.”
Schaefer has confidence Johnson, who was rated the nation’s 38th-best player by All-Star Girls Report, No. 46 by Premier Basketball Report, 49th by ESPN/HoopGurlz, No. 45 by Full Court, and No. 50 by Dan Olson’s Collegiate Girls Basketball Report coming out of Parkview High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, will be able to work back into form. He believes Johnson will bring added length and quickness to a defense that forced 38 turnovers in its first two victories.
“She has gotten some steals on the ball, and that’s when you know she is getting back to herself,” Schaefer said. “She was really quick on the ball last year, and when she was working out with us. I think that’s one of the reasons why she wanted to come here, to play our style of defense and be that pressure defensive player that can really create a problem as well as play up-tempo. She attacked the rim, she didn’t settle for jump shots. She really attacked the rim and got to the rim, but the defensive piece I’ve noticed it’s coming. Her quickness is coming back. She still has a way to go in quickness from what I saw last year, but she is getting it back.
“Ro is a confident kid. She has confidence in her game and that’s why she is talented. She is good, and I think that is a secret to anyone. You cannot worry about the shot you just missed. You’ve got to think that you are going to make the next one. At the same time, I think she is motivated to get back to where she was. She is really talented, and I did not expect to get what I got this weekend. I knew she was coming, but she has not shown any of that type of domination in practice like she showed the other night. She was, without a doubt, dominant in that first game. Then in the second game, she came off of the bench again and took shots in the offense. She didn’t go in there and force it. She took shots within the offense, and you’ve got to give her credit for that and give her teammates credit for finding her.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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