Former KU guard Elijah Johnson talks shooting technique, Iowa State game

Former University of Kansas shooting guard Elijah Johnson practiced with the 2017-18 Jayhawks for several weeks last winter after returning to Lawrence from Israel and a stint with Hapoel Gilboa Galil, an Israeli Premier League team based in Gan Ner.

The 27-year-old Johnson — he’d eventually head back to Israel for the playoffs — developed an on-court chemistry with transfers Dedric Lawson, K.J. Lawson and Charlie Moore, who could practice but not play in games in accordance with NCAA transfer rules.

“I love those guys. The brothers … I love ‘em,” Johnson said of the Lawsons. They began their college careers at their hometown school, the University of Memphis. “I love Charlie’s game,” Johnson added of point guard Moore, a Chicago native who played one season at Cal before switching to KU.

“I was on the Red Team (scout team) with all those guys. I like the way they play. I like the spirit. I like the attitude. I like the demeanor,” Johnson added.

Johnson — he played at KU from 2009-13 — returned from Israel last week in time to help out at Bill Self’s basketball camp, participate in the 10th annual Rock Chalk Roundball Classic and begin his “Too Strong Tour.”

The tour began with a 6-8 p.m. session Monday at Shawnee Mission South High School and will make stops at Parsons High (Wednesday), Arkansas City High (Thursday), Maize South High (Friday), Concordia High (Sunday) and Hutchinson Middle School (June 25).

“It’s good this year. Next year I think it’ll be so much bigger,” Johnson said of the tour, which features basketball instruction and free-throw contests, shooting contests and a dance contest. Former KU players Sherron Collins, Conner Teahan, Travis Releford and Tyrone Appleton joined Johnson at Monday's initial event.

“I’ll be more organized. This was very difficult to try to be a pro basketball player and organize the entire tour. There are a lot of things I didn’t know how to do, like create a website. We’ll be more experienced next year,” he said.

The 6-foot-4, 190-pound Johnson — he averaged 9.9 points and 4.6 assists a game in 2012-13, his senior season at KU — acknowledged last week at the Bill Self basketball camp that he tinkered with his shot during his days as a Jayhawk. Current KU guard Marcus Garrett has said he's reworked his shooting form since the end of last season, and Udoka Azubuike also has changed his free-throw technique. Johnson, a career 42.4 percent shooter in college, stressed that improving one’s form is indeed possible.

“Actually a funny story … Coach Self showed me how to know what kind of shot I’m shooting from the balcony,” Johnson said. “I was in the gym one day shooting on the gun. Coach looked over the balcony and told me something about throwing darts. One thing Coach Self does a lot is use analogies we cannot relate to. I’ve never played darts. I’ve never played golf. He likes to use those analogies to help us understand. He used a dart analogy. Ever since then, I’ve been able to control my shot or know what I need to do to fix and or tweak it,” Johnson added.

Johnson hit 38.2 percent of his shots his senior season at KU. He cashed 52 of 157 threes for 33.1 percent. Garrett, who averaged 4.1 points a game his freshman year, hit 45.6 percent of his shots and 12 of 45 threes for 26.7 percent.

“Marcus … his shot is a little different than mine,” Johnson said. “I think I needed a smaller adjustment. I’m not sure what they are doing with him. I think it’s mostly confidence with him, because I’ve been around him to watch him shoot the ball great (at practice last year). I’ve seen him do it. I’ve seen when he has to think about it; it’s a completely different situation. I think it’s more self-confidence. I think he’s going to get a lot of that in between now and the first tip-off.”

Johnson may be best remembered for scoring a career-high 39 points in a 108-96 overtime victory over Iowa State on Feb. 26, 2013, in Ames, Iowa. Unstoppable late, he had eight points over the last 30 seconds of regulation and 12 points in overtime.

“The story there is Coach Self making me mad,” Johnson said with a smile. “Everybody asks me about that game all the time. They expect something magical to be said. I just tell them Coach Self was just getting on my nerves. He was really getting under my skin. That’s not really something he was able to do to me. I’m always like a quiet person, take it under the chin.

“He was really getting under my skin. I remember leaving a time-out in a rage. Look at the scoreboard. I had 39 points after that, lights out.”

Johnson made an error in judgment by dunking just before the clock expired, the result of the game already decided.

“There was some bad energy between me and Iowa State that a lot of other people didn’t feel or didn’t know about,” Johnson said, not mentioning specifics. “Tyshawn (Taylor), Thomas Robinson, they know, but a lot of people don’t know my junior year at Iowa State, I had kind of an incident there. It was like the ultimate disrespect. That’s not the reason I dunked the ball at the end. I thought 39 was better than 37. That’s why I dunked it.”

Newman to work out in Philly

Former KU guard Malik Newman will work out for the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, Zagsblog.com reports. He’ll be joined by Wichita State’s Landry Shamet, Texas Tech’s Zhaire Smith and others.

Robinson-Earl has outstanding tourney

Rivals.com analyst Eric Bossi was impressed with the performance of Bishop Miege forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl at last week’s Under-18 FIBA Americas Championship in Canada.

“We have written all grassroots season about how productive and efficient Jeremiah Robinson-Earl has been in the paint and he backed it up in Canada. Robinson-Earl averaged 10.7 points and 8.5 rebounds in just 18 minutes per game while making 61.9 percent of his shots,” Bossi wrote Monday.

“Those rebounding numbers were good for fourth overall in the event, but using more advanced stats, his numbers jump to a whopping 19.1 rebounds per 40 minutes which was 3.4 a game better than any other player ranked in the top 20. The guy is just sound and productive in any environment and backed up his top 15 status in 2019.”

Robinson-Earl, a 6-foot-9 senior-to-be, is ranked No. 14 in the class of 2019 by Rivals.com. He’s considering KU, Missouri, Kansas State, North Carolina, Arizona, Iowa, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, UCLA, Wake Forest and others.

This story was originally published June 18, 2018 at 9:13 PM with the headline "Former KU guard Elijah Johnson talks shooting technique, Iowa State game."