Tessa Johnson ‘right where she needs to be’ in junior season with Gamecocks
Tessa Johnson burst onto the women’s college hoops scene during her freshman year at South Carolina.
The former McDonald’s All-American provided some juice off the bench for the Gamecocks in 2023-24. She shot 43.2% from 3-point range, scored 6.6 points per game and averaged 17 minutes across 35 games.
Her freshman year reached a crescendo when she led the Gamecocks with 19 points in a national title win over Iowa. That mark made her the fourth freshman in the last 25 seasons to lead their respective team in scoring during a national championship game and earned her a spot on the Final Four All-Tournament Team.
Johnson showed some improvements during her sophomore campaign, but it still wasn’t quite what South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley and Johnson herself expected.
“Better freshman year than sophomore year to me,” Staley said of Johnson after USC’s season opener. “She just really got serious. Like, I don’t think she liked her sophomore season. ... Tessa puts the work in. Tessa has always put the work in. Tessa probably did not get the results that she’s supposed to get last year, but she probably didn’t put the work in that she put in the year before.”
Last year Johnson averaged 8.4 points per game and saw slight improvement and regression in various other statistics on the year. But she was still — once again — a steady presence off the bench for the Gamecocks.
This season, it looks like Johnson has found a new gear.
She’s now starting for the Gamecocks, averaging 31.7 minutes per game and has nearly doubled her scoring numbers from last year.
Through three games she’s up to 15.3 points per game. Johnson’s field goal percentage has ballooned to 59.4%, she’s shooting 46.7% from 3-point range and touts a 70.3% effective field goal percentage. Johnson’s rebounding (4.7), assists (three) and blocks (0.7) per game have all increased from last year as well.
The 2025-26 season is still very young, but each of those marks are currently a career best for Johnson.
“Tessa is playing at a really high level,” Staley said after USC’s game against Bowling Green State. “She’s practicing at a high level. Nothing that she’s doing in the game surprises me. I think her game has matured out. She doesn’t panic. If she hasn’t shot the ball in a few minutes, she’s not going to panic and take bad shots. She allows the game to come to her. And when a player is at that level, they’re sure of themselves.”
Johnson has been building toward this moment for the last two years, Staley said. Some of that building comes in the weight room, where Johnson was named an “Iron Gamecock” by USC women’s basketball sports performance coach Molly Binetti for her improvements.
Johnson has added 5 inches to her vertical jump, 8.5 inches to her broad jump and has gotten faster (shaved time off her three-quarter-court sprint) and stronger (improved in chin-up numbers) since June 2023, per a post from Binetti.
“I feel a huge difference,” Johnson said. “I feel like I’m faster, stronger and just more comfortable in my body out there. Because the SEC is not no joke, but also non-conference. I just feel a lot better. I’m just taking care of my body a lot more and taking it more seriously off the court.”
The improvement shown in Johnson’s strength and conditioning will no doubt help against a grueling schedule. And it will also help her ever growing-role with South Carolina’s thin roster. The Gamecocks have just 10 available players this season, but that number is down to nine now that Maddy McDaniel is dealing with a suspension.
As a result, Johnson will play more minutes than ever and will have to play roles she’s seldom played. Johnson logged a career-high 35 minutes in Tuesday’s win over Clemson and has found herself playing point guard some in USC’s first three games — something she’s “trying to get more comfortable” doing.
Regardless, Staley believes Johnson is putting it all together and is exactly what a junior player is supposed to look like.
“I don’t have to say much to Tessa. I don’t,” Staley said after beating Grand Canyon. “She comes to practice. She plays on both sides of the basketball. She works before and after practice. She probably comes in and practices on her own, shoots on her own.
“That’s the maturation process for someone coming to college. It isn’t anything but that. When they have the understanding, it ain’t us that’s moving the needle. It’s them that’s moving the needle. Tessa is right where she needs to be.”
