Andy Enfield reveals how Kobe Johnson has grown as a player

USC‘s most recent win over Washington was highlighted by career highs for two of their underclassman players, Tre White and Kobe Johnson. White ended the game with 22 points and Johnson with 21, and following the game Trojans’ head coach Andy Enfield spoke on the growth of Johnson from his freshman season to his current sophomore campaign.

“Well he’s a sophomore, a lot of guys make big jumps between their freshman and sophomore year,” Enfield said. “They figure it out and all freshmen get mad when you don’t play big minutes. Kobe thought he should’ve been starting, playing 35 minutes last year and he just wasn’t as good as our guys, and now he is.”

Last season Johnson came off of the bench for the Trojans, averaging just 7.5 minutes and 1.2 points per game. But this season he’s taken a massive leap, starting 19 games for USC and averaging 8.1 points per game. He’s proven that he can take on more scoring responsibility when needed this season, scoring in double figures seven times this season.

“I play our best players and they all get mad at me when they don’t play, and that’s a part as a head coach, but he just wasn’t good enough last year to play that big minutes. He helped us in spots, he’s a very good defender but he was young and inexperienced,” Enfield said.

Johnson has only continued to build on his consistent defense averaging a team-leading 2.2 steals per game, which also ranked second in the Pac-12. He’s evolved physically as well according to Enfield, becoming a valuable piece of USC’s recent success.

“Kurtis Shultz has done a great job with him in the weight room, our strength coach, and now he looks like he’s a darn all league player. He played like that the entire game tonight so that’s what we expect of our players,” Enfield said. “To improve, get in the weight room, work on your skills, and become a basketball player. And so we give them all the opportunity in the world to do that and happy to say he’s a rock.”

The Trojans are currently on a four-game winning streak, and Johnson has been played lights out during that stretch. He’s averaged 10.5 points per game on 59.1% shooting in their last four games, while also grabbing 20 rebounds and snatching eight steals in the process.

Johnson and the Trojans will look to keep riding their recent momentum in their next matchup on Thursday when they face Oregon on the road at 11:00 p.m. ET.