STARKVILLE – It’s one of the oldest cliches in sports. There’s no ‘I’ in the word ‘team’.
Nothing can harm a squad quicker than selfishness. Nothing can disrupt a unit as quickly as a player who goes into business for individual gain over group success.
On the other side of that coin though, there are players like Mississippi State guard Asianae Johnson. A four-year starter at St. Bonaventure before transferring to MSU for her final season, Johnson has had to adjust to a reserve role for the Bulldogs.
If you think that’s a challenge for her, you’d be wrong. She’s embracing being someone State can turn to for a lift.
“I come off the bench and I create that spark,” Johnson said on Friday night, shortly after helping MSU top Alabama State 81-46. “I’ll do anything to help my team win.”
Johnson scored seven points and had a team-best four assists in the win over the Hornets. It was just the latest example of her ability to come off the bench and be a huge boost.
She did it in the season opener back on November 9. Johnson scored 16 points and had six assists that day.
Johnson followed that up with seven points against North Alabama on November 11. She tallied 12 and tied for the team high with three assists against a ranked South Dakota State team last Monday.
Game after game after game, Johnson is having an impact, all because she cares so much more about the Bulldogs than she does about herself.
“It’s all about sacrifice, especially if you want to be on a winning team,” Johnson said. “Just playing that role coming off the bench and creating that spark, it’s helping my team…I take pride in it. I embrace that role to the fullest.”
Even when she’s not on the floor, Johnson is a cornerstone of first-year head coach Sam Purcell‘s initial bunch of Bulldogs. There’s no sulking. There’s no daydreaming. Johnson is locked in.
“Let’s just talk about Asianae and the joy she brings to the game,” Purcell said. “If you’re a fan in the stands, you can’t help but get out of your seat [when you watch her] because she’s smiling. She’s jumping. She brings such a great spirit about her. I said at the beginning of the year, she’s good enough to start. But that’s just who she is – she’s willing to be about the team and knows that when she comes in the game, she can uplift us and make us better.”
Johnson’s coach adores her…
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