CHAPEL HILL – There’s something so unique about North Carolina’s basketball program that it hasn’t had a player transfer in nine years, an almost unheard of stretch these days in an era of excessive self-entitlement.
It’s a tight-knit family in which everyone has each other’s backs. They are a collective one, entrenched in a steep culture while representing one of the most iconic brands in American sports.
So, when Cameron Johnson inquired about possibly becoming a member of that family two years ago, it was met publicly with some skepticism, although some excitement, too. Johnson was a talented 6-foot-8 wing who put 24 points on the Smith Center scoreboard as a Pittsburgh Panther a few months earlier, and with the Tar Heels losing so many quality players from the 2017 national championship team, Johnson was absolutely needed.
But Carolina’s history has many fewer transfers coming in than guys that left. Dean Smith had a couple, notably Bob McAdoo 47 years before Johnson made the move. Jeb Barlow was a reserve on the 1982 national championship team and Justin Knox for the 2010-11 season was Roy Williams’ only graduate transfer until Johnson came along.
The skepticism?
The Moon Township, PA, native was an outsider, though. He was a fellow ACC guy who did his best to try and beat the Tar Heels just a few months earlier. How was this going to work? Would it work?
The Heels needed Johnson’s talents, but could he mesh into the culture, that was a bigger question.
“It was very early because he’s such a good kid,” Williams said, noting when Johnson assimilated with his new teammates. “People enjoy him, and he and Kenny (Williams) and Luke (Maye) were living together and he was really easy to get involved and he lost himself into the team. He didn’t say anything or act any different way, he was just a new player.”
Johnson didn’t have reservations, but he naturally had some concerns.
“Part of me really didn’t know what to expect changing schools midway through my career,” said Johnson, who will play his final home game as a Tar Heel on Saturday night. “I didn’t know exactly how it would go down and how people would take it, how my teammates would take it and coaches would take it. But it’s been awesome.”
It wasn’t always awesome on the court. While Johnson did everything right ingratiating himself to the UNC family and swan diving into the depths of the Carolina culture, he suffered an injury in September, just a few months after transferring in as a graduate student.
He missed the first 11 games of the season, further complicating the on-court meshing process. Johnson spent the rest of his junior campaign banged up with a laundry list of ailments. Chief among them was a bad hip that had been an issue all season, so he had surgery last April and missed much of what would have been a strict offseason workout regimen.
Johnson’s teammates certainly respected him as a player. He had some excellent games and finished the season averaging 12.4 points shooting 42.6 percent from the floor, including 34.1 percent from 3-point range while grabbing 4.7 rebounds per contest. But it was how he dealt with being out and battling so many maladies that garnered respect from everyone in the program.
Fast forward a year, and Johnson’s dedication to keeping his body right draws big-time praise from his big-time coach.
“Golly bum did he really put in the time in the training room to try to get better, he really wanted to be part of the program,” Williams said, referring to how hard Johnson worked while out a season ago and its carryover into the current campaign.
“His work ethic in the training room to try and take care of his body is as good as anybody’s as I have ever seen. He does more to prepare than just about anybody.”
That dedication is paying off.
One could make a cogent argument that Johnson has been UNC’s best player all season and deserves first-team All-ACC recognition. He leads the team scoring 16.9 points per game while raising his shooting percentages to 51.6 percent overall from the floor and 47.9 percent from 3-point range. He’s grabbing 5.8 rebounds per game while handing out 2.3 assists per outing, though he’s registered four or more dishes in seven different games.
Williams pushed Johnson hard to become a better rebounder. The Heels don’t have a collection of board-snatching bigs that usually dot the roster, so they needed Johnson, who is now 6-foot-9, to develop a nasty streak and pull down his share of missed shots.
He recorded his fourth double-double of the season in Tuesday’s win at Boston College, scoring 22 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. It was the 14th time he’s recorded at least seven rebounds in a game, including in four of Carolina’s last five contests.
“He’s really bought into that (rebounding) and bought into putting the ball on the floor and not just being a shooter,” Williams said. “He’s bought into trying to get better defensively. He’s bought into everything.”
That’s because Johnson first bought completely into Carolina’s culture and in his teammates. He’s a Tar Heel through and through now, best illustrated by his response when asked Thursday if Saturday being his final home game at UNC has settled in yet.
“I think it has for me,” Johnson replied. “I usually go out in the night time and get up shots (in the Dean Dome), and (Wednesday) night I came in and stood at mid-court as if it were the tip off and just kind of looked around and gave myself a couple of minutes to let it soak in that I have one more left and kind of prepare myself for that.
“Part of me does think I can handle it but come the time of the game or after the game it might be a little different.”
Johnson will have the same emotions and reflections as fellow seniors Luke Maye and Kenny Williams. He hasn’t been in Chapel Hill as long as they have, but he’s a part of it every bit as much as them regardless of where his journey began.
