Kentucky Wildcats wing Johnny Juzang announced on Saturday that he entered the NCAA transfer portal. Last night he tweeted that he’s down to six choices when it comes to his next destination: Notre Dame, UCLA, Arizona, Oregon, Villanova and Texas Tech.
No matter where he ends up, he’ll be a big difference maker. Let’s take a closer look at what Juzang, ranked the No. 34 prospect by the Recruiting Services Consensus Index, brings to the table and how he can help his next team.
Juzang appeared in 28 games for part this season, making two starts. He was part of a formidable 2019-20 SEC championship team that would have been a favorite among many March Madness bettors. When you can gamble on basketball again, with a William Hill promo code, UK will be a very solid bet as they will return a lot of key pieces from a conference title team that finished #8 in the final AP poll. Had the NCAA Tournament been played, they would have likely been a #2 or #3 seed.
One piece that’s not coming back to Lexingont though is Juzang, who scored 82 points, grabbed 54 rebounds, shot 37.7% FG and 32.6% from 3-pt. He made 10 of his last 20 shots from behind the arc to end the season.
“This last year at Kentucky was one of the best experiences of my life,” Juzang wrote in his farewell statement to UK.
“I grew so much not only as a player, but as a young man as well. I’d like to thank all my coaches, my brothers, the trainers, the staff, BBN and everyone who made this year so special. From the bottom of my heart I’m going to miss this place.”
UK head coach John Calipari said via statement: “Johnny had a great year and really got better as the season went on. I always enjoyed coaching him, and if there’s an opportunity to continue to do so, I would welcome it with open arms because Johnny is a great kid and a skilled basketball player with a bright future.”
“I talked to Johnny last night along with his family and let him know if he wants to come back here that this option is always open to him.”
“When we spoke last night, his family talked about Johnny going back to the West Coast, which I understand. If this is what he ultimately decides to do, we wish him all the best. He has our full support.”
Juzang, a Los Angeles native, averaged 23.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game during his final season in high school.
Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari, while on Zoom teleconference with the media, was asked what Juzang brings to next year’s team. While this was prior to Juzang making his decison, the same principles apply to his next team, as they’re getting the same guy with the same traits. Coach Cal praised the fearlessness of Juzang.
“Well, again, by the end of the year he had stepped in, and the one thing that I’m going to tell you about Johnny, he was not afraid,” said Calipari.
“Never was that an issue. But, in this game that you play, most of it is conquering yourself first before you worry about conquering anybody else. This was all new to him. He had never played at this pace. He had never fought like he had to fight. He had never had to be in a position defensively where you must guard.
“If they’re going at you every play, you personally, you cannot be in that game. And so, he as the season went on, each week that went by he learned and got better and better.”
“I remember us in the Tennessee game where he did what he did.”
“I remember how he played in the last game at Florida. But he was a freshman, and I’m going to say this: He played behind some pretty good players.
That doesn’t make him any less a player. But he played behind some good guys. Now, he knows.”
For more from this Zoom conference go here.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link