Meechie Johnson's full-circle college career nearing an end

Meechie Johnson celebrated Senior Night with South Carolina in his last home game at Colonial Life Arena on Tuesday night. He was honored pregame and dropped 20 points against No. 23 Tennessee in a 78-59 loss.

After Saturday’s matchup at Ole Miss, it will be his last of 88 career regular-season games with the Gamecocks. 

“I definitely shed a few tears,” Johnson said. “I felt like this place made me so much of a better person and better basketball player.”

The Cleveland, Ohio native’s path was the road less traveled — going back and forth twice between two schools — but it will end with almost 150 career games played across six seasons as a career 10.9 point-per-game scorer. Johnson’s career average with the Gamecocks is 14.7 points, and it seems he saved the best for last. 

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This season, Johnson is averaging a career-best 17.3 points per game, which ranks 12th in the SEC. He is also posting career highs in assists (4.3 per game) and steals (3.1 per game). Johnson is averaging more than 30 minutes per game and holds the seventh-highest usage rate in the conference. His three-point percentage is hovering around his career average at 33 percent while attempting more than five shots from beyond the arc per game.

Johnson has looked like a new player for South Carolina in his return to the program this season. In his second game of the year, he scored a then-career-high 33 points in an overtime win over Southern Miss, shooting 9-of-19 from the field and knocking down seven three-pointers. Johnson later surpassed that mark with a 35-point performance in the Gamecocks’ early February loss to Texas.

Head coach Lamont Paris attributed Johnson’s growth since his junior season to the increased maturity he brought back with him to Columbia.

“It was a different person than what I remembered even from when he left the last time,” Paris said. “Just a completely different level of maturity and perspective, and I think that really has impacted how he’s played.”

Johnson’s role also took a new turn this year as the full-time starting point guard. Johnson’s assist numbers went up, but so did his role as the team’s leader, on and off the court. Paris credited Johnson for his leadership and mentorship toward the team’s underclassmen in his final season. 

“He’s been a tremendous example for the guys on our team,” Paris said. “He’s an incredible communicator with his voice to his teammates; his energy is always good.”

After spending his first two seasons with Ohio State, Johnson made the first commitment to Paris and the Gamecocks. In the 2023-24 season, Paris led the team to its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2017, when the Gamecocks made it to the Final Four. 

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Following their first-round loss to Oregon, Johnson made the surprising move to hit the portal and return to Columbus. After only playing 10 games and eventually leaving the team for personal reasons, Johnson came back for a second time. 

“He was scrutinized heavily for that,” Paris said. “And so for him to be able to quiet that noise in a way that he could really dive into this team, and his coaches and just his whole experience in this last year being back here in Columbia, said a lot about who he was as a person.”

The end of the season will close that chapter between Johnson and Paris, at least on the court. The pair have had a strong relationship in Johnson’s three years in Columbia, something he doesn’t take for granted. Johnson said he wrote Paris a letter, thanking him before the Senior Night game on Tuesday. 

“The person he’s been in my life, being so far away from home, you know, losing family members throughout this time being here,” Johnson said. “It’s a blessing to have somebody like that as a coach in your life, just outside of basketball.”

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