City of Basketball Love

Mitchell Northam (@primetimeMitch)
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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Like their fitting nickname, Miami had torn through the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament like a hurricane.

In the span of three days, Katie Meier’s Canes had comfortably beaten Duke, shocked second-seeded and nationally ranked Louisville, and then held off Notre Dame for an impressive and improbable semifinal victory. On Sunday, the Canes were playing in the ACC Tournament final for the first time ever, and were just the second-ever seventh seed to storm through the tournament and appear in the championship bout.

Miami had played fearless basketball. And it set its sights on making N.C. State its next victim. The Canes intended to muck the game up defensively, and then unleash Kelsey Marshall and Destiny Harden on offense.

That plan seemed to work, at first. Miami jumped out to a 9-7 lead before Wolfpack coach Wes Moore made his first substitution at the 4:50 mark, taking out Jakia Brown-Turner for Diamond Johnson.

Earlier this season – after Johnson had 16 points off the bench in a win over Towson – Moore said of the Neumann-Goretti product: “She can give you more than a spark — she gives you a forest fire out there.”

Johnson entered Sunday’s game and got the ball in her hands, drew in the defense and then dished the ball out to fellow pint-sized guard Raina Perez for a wide-open 3-pointer. On the next possession, Johnson raced down the court, found a spot from mid-range that she liked, pulled up and swished it.

In the next quarter, after Miami briefly retook the lead, Johnson found Elissa Cunane in the paint, and the All-American center converted Johnson’s dime into an and-1 bucket, which gave N.C. State a 27-23 advantage. Miami never sniffed the lead again, as the Wolfpack pulled away for a 60-47 victory, giving N.C. State its third straight ACC Tournament crown.

After the game, Moore praised Johnson, who led the team in assists and steals, and was third in scoring on the historic day at the old Greensboro Coliseum.

“Obviously, she's had some big games for us, won some games for us, and based on potential, she's going to be great,” Moore said. “She's already a great player, but I think she's going to have more of an impact as we go.”

Moore also acknowledged that, for Johnson, her transition into this team wasn’t simple. Often, it was difficult. Johnson was coming from Rutgers, where she was not only the first scoring option, but at times, the only choice on offense. When she transferred to N.C. State last offseason, she entered a program that was returning three fifth-year senior starters, and two other All-ACC talents in Brown-Turner and Cunane.

“I think the whole thing has been tough,” Moore said. “It's kind of hard to find your niche. I think that's been hard on Diamond at times, and I'm hard on Diamond at times. The thing that's made it easy is she's an unbelievable person. Everyone on the team loves her.”

Johnson has had her fair share of ups and downs this season.

There’s been a few uncharacteristic performances, where she seemed to be a shell of the player that had a 50-40-90 campaign at Rutgers as a freshman. Since 2009, Johnson was the only freshman – who played at least 15 minutes per-game – to post those shooting slashes, according to HerHoopStats.

The games in which Johnson did not play so well included a 6 of 23 shooting performance at Notre Dame, which wound up being N.C. State’s only loss to an ACC team all season. She also shot 1 of 7 in the regular season finale at Virginia Tech, 1 of 4 at Duke and 0 for 3 against Florida State. And the first time N.C. State played Miami, Johnson coughed up five turnovers.

But, there have also been times this season in which Johnson has bailed N.C. State out when its back was against the wall. Her talents were on full-display on Jan. 20 against Louisville. After trailing the Cardinals by as many as 16 points, Johnson scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to power an N.C. State comeback. In the postgame press conference, Johnson revealed she had been writing a message to herself before every game on her left wrist: “Nobody can stop you but you.”

That statement is often true. Louisville couldn’t contain the 5-foot-5 Philadelphia native. And neither could Maryland, Indiana or Washington State – tournament-bound teams that Johnson showed off against this season. She tallied 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists against the Terps, 19 points, six rebounds and three assists against the Hoosiers, and 24 points and four steals against the Cougars.

Moore has often said this season that, when Johnson’s shot isn’t falling, it’s typically not due to the opposing defense. She has space, her looks look good – her aim is just a little off.

“I went back and watched all of her shots at Notre Dame – and there was a bunch of them – and a lot of them were just short. She’s just got to get it there and make sure she’s giving it a chance,” Moore said. “Her aim is fine. It's dead on. But she's leaving them short. (We) want to focus on aiming at the back of the rim, not just the rim.”

Regardless of if her shot is accurate or not, Johnson always tries to do the same thing when Moore calls her number.

“Just bring the energy,” Johnson said. “That’s what I try to do when I’m on the bench cheering for my teammates as well.”

Despite her size, Johnson is fourth on the team in rebounds this year, corralling 135 boards so far. She also leads the team in steals with 43.

“I take very much pride in it,” Johnson said after grabbing six boards in a Feb. 7 win over Georgia Tech. “I’m a smaller guard, so you know, I can’t just score the ball all the time; I try to do other things and not be one-dimensional.”

Later in the game against Miami, Johnson was able to provide both energy and scoring for N.C. State at a time when the Wolfpack desperately needed it. When Cunane left the game around the 6:40 mark in the third quarter to be checked out for a potential leg injury, N.C. State held an 11-point lead. With their star centerpiece out, the Wolfpack didn’t just maintain that lead – they extended it, as Johnson flushed a three at the third quarter buzzer to push the margin to 18 points.

When the fourth quarter opened, Johnson got the ball again and fired up another deep shot. It connected, giving the Wolfpack a sizable 21-point lead, their largest of the game.

“Diamond’s quick. She has a quick first step. She speeds us up, and that’s a good thing. She adds a quickness to our team, honestly,” teammate Raina Perez said earlier this year. “I think just practicing against Diamond helps us guards as a whole, just to tighten up our defense, and prepare us for other guards, like (Duke’s Shayeann) Day-Wilson.”

In all, Johnson finished with 11 points, three assists, three steals and two rebounds in 24 minutes, as N.C. State joined an exclusive group of ACC teams to three-peat as conference tournament champions. The others to do so are Notre Dame, UNC, Duke and former ACC side Maryland.

As March rolls on, N.C. State hopes that Johnson helps it enter another special and elite class of programs in women’s basketball – ones that have won a national championship.

“I like to say we have six starters, in that respect,” Moore said. “I think Diamond gives us a jolt of energy when she comes in. I love having that ace in the hole.”