Transfer Keshad Johnson brings NCAA tourney experience, mindset to Arizona basketball

New Arizona forward Keshad Johnson has a view of the NCAA Tournament that the returning Wildcats can probably relate to.

Just from a different angle.

“One game, you can be out of there,” Johnson said Wednesday, when UA formally introduced the San Diego State transfer forward at McKale Center.

Uh-huh. Last season, while Arizona was bounced by 15th-seeded Princeton in the first round, Johnson helped the Aztecs make an unexpected run all the way to the championship game.

In part, he said, because of advice from SDSU coach Brian Dutcher.

“He said `Take one thing from (watching postgame) film that can save a game,’ so that’s one thing I'm gonna take away for the rest of my career,” Johnson said. “We watched film, we did a great job of doing a scouting report on guys.

"Sometimes basketball is so unpredictable. So you’ve just got to control what you can control. When you get to that round of 64 game, that number 16 team might come out and have the best game of their lives. You’ve gotta try to just do anything, anything that can save a game and get that win.”

It worked, over and over, for the Aztecs last season. They started out by beating Charleston only by six points in the first round, pushed away Alabama by seven in the Sweet 16 and then squeaked out two wild ones, edging Creighton 57-56 in the Elite Eight and Florida Atlantic 72-71 in the national semifinals.

“It's really a fairy tale,” Johnson said. “Even now, it just all feels so surreal, just going through that moment. … You can't let the moment get too big for you. (But) it’s a dream come true, going through that.”

So while the 6-7, 225-pound Johnson is expected to bring the Wildcats defense, toughness and versatility to the forward spots next season, he also possesses the kind of postseason experience they don’t have. Arizona has not been to a Final Four since 2001, though the Wildcats have won two in-season tournament titles and two Pac-12 Tournament titles since coach Tommy Lloyd was hired in April 2021.

Maybe the pieces are there for a longer postseason run now. After arriving Tucson earlier this summer to begin working out with his new teammates, Johnson complimented Oumar Ballo’s dominance inside, Pelle Larsson’s lack of weaknesses, the playmaking of Kylan Boswell and spoke of another surprise.

“Every player on this roster can bring something to win and that's pretty much rare with basketball teams,” Johnson said. “Everybody’s talented but it's more than talent. It's the work that you put in and the winning play that you can make.

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“For instance, today in practice we had KJ Lewis, who's a freshman, taking charges. That’s something you really can’t teach. That’s just something that’s got to be in you. It’s things like that -- making winning plays, getting deflections and helping somebody else out.”

After Johnson committed to the Wildcats in May, UA coach Tommy Lloyd expressed confidence that Johnson could help tie it all together.

As a starter for SDSU last season, Johnson averaged 7.7 points, 5.0 rebounds while shooting 53.2% overall and 26.2% from 3-point range. He scored 14 points in SDSU’s 76-59 loss to UConn in the championship game.

Lloyd also had a close look at Johnson earlier in the season, when the SDSU forward had eight points and five rebounds in UA’s 87-70 win over the Aztecs in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational.

“He just has a real special ability to make teams better and he's an amazing, high character person,” Lloyd said.

If Johnson can help the Wildcats succeed, he also might also benefit personally. He briefly tested the NBA Draft waters last spring before deciding to return to college, then picking a different college to return to.

Though Johnson said the Aztecs would have welcomed him back with “open arms,” he said he received a sense from SDSU coaches that they couldn’t wait for him to make a stay-or-go decision while trying to settle their roster for 2023-24.

“It's a business, and I understood that,” Johnson said. “It got to a point where I had to say, `OK, San Diego State might not be an option just because I know that they're ready to move on as well.' That's what that came down to.”

Johnson said the biggest reason he ultimately chose Arizona wasn't because of the NIL opportunities but about Lloyd’s system and the opportunities it presented. SDSU ranked No. 262 in adjusted tempo last season while Arizona was 13th.

“It's a different style of play,” Johnson said. “Both are winning programs as we all know, so it's just a different step, and I'm just going to try to use being Arizona to my advantage.”