Arizona freshman forward Stanley Johnson had a monster second half against Utah on January 17 – 18 points, nine rebounds. Arizona won 69-51. Utah’s Delon Wright dominated the first half but Johnson “flipped the script on Wright” and blew the game open. On Saturday, February 28 (9pm, ESPN), the Wildcats meet the Utes again. This time No. 7 Arizona is looking to wrap up the Pac-12 title at No. 13 Utah. How did Johnson learn to flip the script? His mother will tell you, “the sneaks.”
Johnson’s mother is Karen Taylor. Taylor played basketball at Jackson State, where she’s in the school’s Sports Hall of Fame. Before the WNBA existed, she went on to play ball professionally in Denmark, Italy and Sweden. She’s been training Johnson since he was 5 years old. When he became a teenager, training became more difficult. There were more distractions. Taylor said: “He loves sneaks. He’s always loved sneaks.” She explained: “Because some kids get distracted by girls and everything else, so I kept him focused on the shoes. I’d say ‘Stanley, if you play well, I’m going to get you some sneaks. Sneaks, sneaks, sneaks, sneaks.’ It’s affected him so bad that he still loves sneaks.”
