Another Buckeye Baller earned some preseason recognition this week, as fifth-year senior guard Meechie Johnson Jr. was named on Tuesday to the preseason watch list for the Jerry West Award, given annually to the top shooting guard in the nation.
Johnson earns the honor before he begins his first season back with the Buckeyes since transferring to South Carolina after the 2021-22 campaign. The Cleveland native is poised to form a formidable backcourt duo alongside junior point guard Bruce Thornton this season after spending two successful years with the Gamecocks, where he was one of the top offensive talents in the SEC during that time, combining for 13.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists per contest while shooting 38.1 percent from the field across those two seasons.
He also helped lead South Carolina last year to its first NCAA tournament appearance in seven seasons by producing a team-high 14.1 points per contest on 39.9 percent shooting, taking home second-team All-SEC honors in the process.
Johnson, who averaged 3.2 points, 1.11 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game during his first stint with the Buckeyes from 2020-21, is one of 20 shooting guards named to the Jerry West Award watch list. He joins just one other Big Ten player on the list, Fletcher Loyer of Purdue, along with Houston’s LJ Cryer, North Carolina’s RJ Davis and Texas’ Tre Johnson and Arizona’s Caleb Love, among others.
Johnson will try to become just the second-ever Buckeye to win the West Award since D’Angelo Russell took home the honor in 2014-15, the first year the award was created.
