Key matchup: Quick guard Ty-Laur Johnson pacing San Diego in offensive, defensive categories
SAN DIEGO – San Diego’s Ty-Laur Johnson may be among those not quite ready to ring in the new year.
The month of December has been kind to the junior guard, who leads San Diego in scoring and should continue to see his season average (13.7 points per game) soar if he keeps scoring at the rate he has the last few weeks.
The Wake Forest transfer who started his career at Louisville has been one of the top newcomers and two-way players in the West Coast Conference, contributing 22 points and six steals in San Diego’s 66-54 home win over Pacific Sunday to open conference play.
It was the third time in four games he’s registered at least 20 points and the fourth time this month he’s hit double digits. Johnson also had 23 points, seven assists and six rebounds in a huge win over UC San Diego, one game after scoring 23 points with four assists against Northern Arizona.
Sunday’s performance against Pacific was a bounce-back of sorts for Johnson, who was held to seven points on 2 of 10 shooting in a road loss to Washington three days before Christmas.
“Last game I had a pretty tough shooting game,” Johnson told USD’s radio broadcast Sunday. “I think I was moving way too fast and today I played at my pace, didn’t let anybody speed me up, took my time on my shots and it went in.”
Seventh-ranked Gonzaga (13-1) will be aware of Johnson’s scoring ahead of Tuesday’s 6:30 p.m. (KHQ/ESPN+) matchup with San Diego (6-7) at Jenny Craig Pavilion, but the junior’s defense has also been steady for the Toreros this season.
A shifty guard with good instincts, Johnson leads the WCC in steals at 2.3 per game and has had at least three steals in six games so far. Playing alongside former Zags Hunter Sallis and Efton Reid at Wake Forest last season, Johnson was second on the team in steals (1.5).
Opportunities to create turnovers may be few and far between for Johnson on Tuesday. Gonzaga’s committed just 13 in its last two games and Johnson could be matched up with point guard Braeden Smith, who had 15 assists with just one turnover against Oregon and Pepperdine.
Even if the 6-foot Smith makes his second straight WCC start for Gonzaga, Mark Few’s team should have the size advantage in the backcourt. Johnson, who stands 6-feet, starts alongside former Portland guard Juanse Gorosito, listed at 6-feet, and 6-foot-3 Adrian McIntyre. The Zags counter with Smith, 6-foot-5 Emmanuel Innocenti and 6-foot-7 Steele Venters.