Indiana announces guard Xavier Johnson will miss remainder of season

Tough news out of Bloomington for Indiana hoops. After encouraging developments the last few weeks pointed to a possible return for Hoosier point guard Xavier Johnson, the school announced today that he will miss the remainder of the season due to a broken foot he suffered back in December.

Here was Johnson’s statement regarding his status from the Indiana Athletics website:

“After consulting with my family, coaches and medical staff, I’ve decided to rest for the remainder of the season and will not be returning to competition,” said Johnson.  “After healing my foot, my focus will be to pursue a medical hardship waiver and return to playing for the Hoosiers next season.”

For reference, the post added:

“He suffered a broken foot against Kansas on December 17 and later had surgery.  He averaged 9.9 points and 4.9 assists.  Last year, he earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors after averaging 12.1 points and finishing third in the Big Ten in assists at 5.1 per game.”

So, apparently Johnson will pursue the opportunity to suit up next year for IU but his 2022-23 season is done for good. Johnson spent three years at Pittsburgh out of high school, where he started 81 games at point guard for the Panthers before opting to transfer to Indiana for the last two seasons when Mike Woodson took over.

So, Johnson already used his extra COVID year to play his fifth season of hoops this year. However, since this year was cut short and he only played in 18 games during the 2019-20 season, Johnson will try to get a waiver for a sixth year.

Johnson certainly played in enough games this year for it to count as a year of eligibility, and he likely would not be able to get a waiver in the pre-COVID days. But since the virus has led to guys getting fifth, sixth and even seventh years of college hoops, it’s much easier nowadays to get extra years. So, Xavier Johnson could very well end up back with Indiana next season.