Not many freshmen recruited by a Big Ten school get to play much, or even at all, during their freshman year.
They are put on the bench, where they sit and watch the great players do their best, hoping to learn from them.
All most freshman get to do is practice, but for freshman Kennedy Johnson, it has been different.
After six of her teammates got injured or sick with the flu and another decided to leave the team, Johnson was put in a position where she needed to contribute.
“Most freshman don’t get to play games like that, and most people don’t get to play games as freshmen,” she said. “It’s great to get out and actually help the team.”
Johnson scored a career-high of 11 points during MSU’s 77-71 victory against Wisconsin on Sunday.
“Hopefully it’s not a one time thing,” head coach Suzy Merchant said of the 18 points the Spartans scored off the bench.
Merchant also said she could see the potential in Johnson and is glad the opportunity presented itself.
“We’ve been waiting to see it; it’s been a long time coming,” Merchant said. “Early on, there weren’t many opportunities for (Johnson) to play. Now she has to play.”
From now on, Johnson is held to the standards of how she did against the Badgers.
“There’s signs like tonight, and now there’s expectations,” Merchant said.
Her brother, Penn State football player Austin Johnson, visited MSU for the first time at the game Sunday. Merchant said she noticed he’s a role model to her. Kennedy said it helped to know he was sitting there, because she looks up to him.
“It helped a lot that he was here,” Johnson said. “He gives me good pep talks. He said if I didn’t play hard, he’d be mad. I look up to him.”
It was also the first time her parents watched her play in person for the Spartans.
“It’s cool looking up to the stands after I score and see someone screaming my name,” she said.
Aside from being encouraged by her family’s presence, Johnson is constantly being pushed to do better by her teammates, redshirt sophomore Aerial Powers said.
“(Bench players are) at practice when we’re doing drills, and we have to say ‘come on, come on’ or ‘you have to be a scorer too,’” Powers said.
Her teammates believe in what she can accomplish, and they were excited to see it happen on Sunday.
“I jumped on her and was like ‘Yeah, let’s go’ — it was awesome,” Powers said. “It’s great to see a player who hasn’t been playing well come off the bench and do (what she did).”
Sophomore Tori Jankoska said that seeing Johnson and senior Anna Morrissey come of the bench and do as well as they did was an accomplishment for the whole team.
“It brings up the whole morale of the team,” Jankoska said. “(The other teams) are going to have to guard Kennedy (Johnson) now.”
Jankoska said that as the bench players settle in to be part of their main seven-man roster, the team has gained confidence.
“We’re finally getting some chemistry. ... That’ll be to our advantage,” she said.
Hoping to start a winning streak, MSU will have to win against Indiana Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Breslin Center.
