Xavier Johnson leaves Pitt, enters transfer portal

An idle week turned into a tumultuous week for Pitt basketball Wednesday when point guard Xavier Johnson left the program.

With three games remaining in the regular season, Johnson came to a mutual agreement with coach Jeff Capel to leave and enter his name in the NCAA transfer portal.

“The Pitt men’s basketball program and Xavier Johnson have mutually agreed that it is in everyone’s best interest to part ways,” Capel said in a statement. “He will enter the transfer portal and is no longer a member of our program. We wish him the best of luck as he looks to continue his career elsewhere.”

Johnson had been the target of Capel’s ire and frustration in recent weeks when he received technical fouls against Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and N.C. State. During that stretch, he began two games on the bench, including the Virginia Tech game Feb. 3 when he scored a career-high 32 points, a record for a Pitt reserve.

But Capel seemed out of answers when he spoke to reporters after the N.C. State game — a one-point loss Feb. 17 — when Johnson received a technical for shouting at the Wolfpack bench after hitting a 3-pointer.

“Nothing I’ve said has worked,” Capel said at the time. “I’ve been telling him for 2½ years. Stop talking to the refs. Stop being demonstrative. Nothing we’ve said has worked.”

Johnson, who has started 81 of 84 games for Pitt, also leads the team with 59 turnovers this season, giving him 302 for his career. But Pitt will miss his ability to disrupt the opposing offense. He leads the Panthers with 23 steals for a career total of 124.

Despite Johnson’s problems, Capel has acknowledged his junior point guard’s importance, remarking after he missed half of the Georgia Tech game with foul trouble, “We need him in the game. It hurt us when we didn’t have him in the game.”

What does it mean to the immediate future of the program? First, it shortens a bench already compromised by freshman John Hugley’s suspension after seven games. Transfers and opt-outs are becoming increasingly commonplace in college athletics, but when they happen, coaches must find a way to replenish the roster. As of now, Capel has no commitments in his class of 2021.

The immediate replacement at point guard will be freshman Femi Odukale, a capable player with some flash to his game. He has appeared in all 18 games while averaging 4.8 points and 2.0 assists in 17.2 minutes. Capel will need more scoring from Odukale because Johnson was averaging 14.2 points, third on the team.

Johnson is the second member of Capel’s initial recruiting class from 2018 to leave the team. Guard Trey McGowens spent two years at Pitt before transferring to Nebraska after last season. Au’Diese Toney is the only remaining member of the three-man class.

Johnson made a dynamic debut as a freshmen in 2018-19 when he set Pitt freshman records in several categories, including scoring (a team-high 15.5 points per game), double-figure scoring games (28 of 33) and successful free throws (157, a number that led the ACC).

He also was the only player in the ACC to average at least 15 points and 4.5 assists.

As a sophomore last season, Johnson’s scoring average fell to 11.7 points while he increased his steal total from 43 to 58 and assist total from 149 to 163.

This season, Johnson was averaging 5.7 assists (second in the ACC) in 18 games (16 starts). He was shooting 42.6% (80 of 188) from the field, including 32.1% (25 of 78) from beyond the 3-point arc.

He leaves Pitt ranked 30th on the all-time scoring list with 1,152 points.

Pitt will travel to N.C. State on Sunday for its first game in eight days. The Panthers have lost seven of eight, their third consecutive late-season slump under Capel.

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