One minute, Shawnson Johnson was on the bench. The next, he was gone.
When the LSU Tigers’ basketball team returned to the PMAC court for the second half of its 65-44 victory over Delaware State University Tuesday, Johnson was not on the bench.
Johnson apparently was upset he did not receive any playing time in the first half, according to LSU head coach John Brady, and left the PMAC.
“Well, Shawnson’s not sure he wants to play,” Brady said. “He got his feelings hurt, I guess, because the ‘ole coach didn’t play him the first half. I’m not very understanding about those kinds of things. Maybe he’s got a choice; he thinks his playing time is more important than what I think is best for the team.
“And let me tell you, he’s going to lose that [dispute].”
In the early season, Johnson was averaging 17.7 minutes and 5.3 points per game. Coming into Tuesday’s game, Johnson led the Tigers in blocks with seven and was second on the team with 7.7 rebounds per game.
When asked earlier in the press conference if Johnson was still on the team, Brady replied, “Well, I don’t know.” But when Brady was later asked if Johnson was currently on the team, he said “He’s not going to be there; he’s off, out of the choice he made.
“Go look through his locker,” Brady told a group of reporters. “Walk through the locker room and see if his name is in there.”
Brady would not specify what exactly happened inside the locker room at the intermission, but said it does not matter how the situation occurred.
“It makes no difference,” Brady said. “The gory details are nobody’s business. The fact of the matter is that his name is off the locker.”
Brady clearly was irritated with reporters, who pressed him on the subject.
“You know, let’s talk about Ronald Dupree and the guys giving to the team,” Brady said. “I’m not concerned about the rest of [the Johnson situation]. I’m not going to discuss it. It’s nothing to me. I’m going to coach the guys that want to play for LSU. The guys that don’t, I could care less. I want guys who grow up to be young men and give until it hurts.
“And if anyone thinks their feelings are more important than what’s best for the team, matters not to me. I have no concern for that; I have no time for that.”
Shooting guard Collis Temple III would only say the situation was “between Shawnson and coach Brady.”
Forward Ronald Dupree also said he would not really comment on the situation.
“I came in the locker room and I didn’t know what happened,” Dupree said. “We were just enjoying a good half. It’s disappointing.”
Sophomore guard Antonio Hudson said he really did not know what was going on, but said it does not sit well with him that a fellow teammate left the team hanging.
“We come here together, we work hard together and it kind of hurts,” Hudson said. “But you have to go on. You just have to go on.”
Johnson came to LSU from Lee College in Baytown, Texas. The Shreveport native holds the record for total blocks at Lee. Before his college days, Johnson prepped at Green Oaks High School in Shreveport where he was an All-State, All-City and All-District team member.
He averaged 21 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots a game in his senior season.