johnston high point is drawing fresh attention as High Point guard Chase Johnston heads into the NCAA Tournament with one of the strangest stat lines in college basketball. The focus is on a senior guard who has lived almost entirely beyond the arc, right as High Point, a No. 12 seed, prepares to face No. 5 Wisconsin in Portland. The game is set for Thursday at 1: 50 p. m. ET on TBS, and Johnston’s all-or-nothing perimeter approach is now part of the pregame conversation.
What’s happening now for Johnston High Point
Johnston enters the matchup after a regular season in which his shooting profile became a story on its own. In 32 regular-season games, Johnston attempted 136 shots, with 132 taken from three-point range. He did not make a single two-point shot in that span, and the numbers behind it are stark: Johnston had four attempts inside the arc and missed all four, meaning all 64 shots he made in the regular season were three-pointers.
Despite that extreme distribution, Johnston still averaged six points per game and shot nearly 50% from beyond the arc during the season. The result is a player who can change the rhythm of a game with a short burst, even without a traditional scoring mix.
High Point’s first-round opponent adds fuel to the storyline. Wisconsin is allowing opponents to take 24. 4 three-point attempts per game, with 8. 1 made per game, both ranking in the bottom half nationally. Wisconsin also recently allowed 24 made three-pointers across a three-game stretch in the Big Ten tournament, reinforcing the idea that perimeter volume can be a pressure point.
Johnston High Point and a career built on deep shots
Johnston is a senior guard at High Point University who has been playing college basketball for six years, using extra eligibility allowed due to COVID-19. His path has included starting at Stetson, transferring to Florida Gulf Coast after two years, and then moving to High Point for the 2024-2025 season.
At Florida Gulf Coast, Johnston played a combined 40 games over two seasons and missed the majority of the 2023-2024 season due to an injury. After transferring to High Point for 2024-2025, he averaged 6. 9 points per game and shot 42. 5% from three. That season included at least 16 made two-point field goals over 35 games.
But his final collegiate season took the three-point preference to an extreme. Johnston has always favored shooting from long range, yet this year became the clear outlier: he took only four shots all season from inside the arc and missed all of them.
Immediate reactions from named voices and institutions
Pre-tournament discussion around Johnston has also included comparisons to past NCAA Tournament breakout shooting performances. Jack Gohlke of Oakland University is the reference point, after scoring 32 points in the 2024 NCAA Tournament during an upset of No. 3 Kentucky.
Sam Profeta, a freelance writer with The Sporting News, framed Johnston’s moment as part of the annual tournament dynamic where lesser-known players can become overnight names, pointing to the matchup environment and the attention around Johnston’s perimeter-heavy game.
On the court, Johnston also showed form during High Point’s run to the Big South Championship, shooting 6 of 10 from three-point range, a sign that his efficiency can hold in higher-stakes moments.
Quick context
High Point enters as a No. 12 seed with an offense averaging 90 points per game, the third-highest scoring mark in the country. The matchup is part of the NCAA Tournament’s West Region in Portland on Thursday at 1: 50 p. m. ET.
What’s next
All eyes now turn to whether johnston high point becomes more than a quirky stat note once the ball goes up Thursday at 1: 50 p. m. ET. If Wisconsin continues to give up high volumes of three-point looks, Johnston’s willingness to fire from deep could become a defining storyline of the game—either as a spark that swings momentum or as a gamble that finally meets its limit on the tournament stage.
