ALEXANDER CITY — As Florida fifth-year guard Zyon Pullin ran down the court in the second half of the 2024 SEC Tournament title game against Auburn basketball, he had his eye on the rim.
Only one enemy stood in his way: freshman point guard Aden Holloway, whose 6-foot-2 frame doesn’t exactly make him a strong interior presence.
The only problem for Pullin was that he had no idea how close Chaney Johnson was to him. He found out when Johnson emphatically fired his layup attempt off the backboard. The Tigers recovered the loose ball, slowed the pace and made a play that featured Johnson feeding All-American teammate Johni Broome in the post with a pass from the top of the key.
Broome, a lefty, retreated to the basket and converted a bucket to the right as he fell to the floor. That run, involving Johnson on both ends, gave Auburn its biggest lead of the game to that point — 17 points — and helped secure its third conference tournament championship in program history.
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With All-SEC forward Jaylin Williams headed to the NBA, coach Bruce Pearl wants to see Johnson involved in more plays like this next season.
In fact, it is beyond a wish; the Tigers need Johnson to step into the hole left by Williams at the 4.
“I thought Chaney had a great year last year, moving up from Division II and into high-level basketball,” Pearl said Tuesday at an AMBUSH event. “…You had Jaylin Williams and Johni Broome carrying the load, and then Chaney was able to come off the bench and give us a spark. Now it’s his turn.
“There’s actually going to be a big adjustment now, like, ‘Okay, let’s do this every night, let’s do this potentially as a starter.’ We’ll see. He’s an incredibly hard worker, he’s in the gym all day, every day. He has tremendous discipline in his life.
Johnson, who spent the first three seasons of his college career at Alabama-Huntsville after starring at Thompson High School near Birmingham, had a two-season freshman history at Auburn. The transition was difficult initially, as the hyper-athletic forward only scored five or more points three times above the non-conference list. His field goal percentage stood at 43.8%.
In the last 22 games of the season, however, Johnson broke the five-point barrier 14 times, and his efficiency on the field was 53.8% in that period. He looked much more confident, especially at a competition in Georgia in February where Williams was injured in his knee. Johnson recorded 16 points and four rebounds in the win over the Bulldogs.
“He played some of his best games on the road,” Pearl said. “… I want Chaney to relax and play with confidence and have a little more fun. He’s such a diligent worker that I think if he had a little more joy in the game and relaxed a little, he would actually play better. I would take a team full of him, though.”
Johnson is ready to be the starting forward next season. That’s not set in stone — SMU transfer Ja’Heim Hudson is fighting him at the position — but he’s the heavy favorite. That means more responsibility and there is reason to believe he can take advantage of that.
Over the final nine games of last season, Johnson averaged 17.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per 40 minutes. Williams averaged 17.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per 40 minutes over the same period. His true shooting percentages of 65.8% and 65.7%, respectively, were nearly identical.
That’s the version of Johnson the Tigers need moving forward.
“I’m just betting on him because he’s very disciplined in life,” Pearl said. “He’s an incredibly hard worker. There’s always been that – he wasn’t highly recruited out of high school, he’s a Division II player. Does he belong? We all believe so, his teammates and coaches do.
“He has to believe it too.”
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached by email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared in the Montgomery Advertiser: Chaney Johnson: Can PF make another leap with Auburn basketball?
