Wesleyan University men’s basketball is in the midst of the best season in the program’s 120-plus year history, and Lexington native Nicky Johnson is a key reason why.
A four-year starter and All-NESCAC First Team selection, the senior captain and his Cardinals (30-1) face NESCAC rival Trinity in the NCAA Division III Final Four on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The 5-foot-10 guard averages 13.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game for Wesleyan, the tournament’s top seed. Trinity is No. 4. The winner faces either No. 2 NYU and No. 17 Washington University in Saturday’s 4 p.m. national title game.
Wesleyan coach Joe Reilly has been part of NESCAC coaching staff for 27 years. His two most winning seasons were Johnson’s freshman and senior campaigns. Entering his senior year, Johnson already scored 1,000 career points and compiled program records in assists and steals. Reilly called Johnson one of the best defenders and leaders he’s ever coached.
“He’s just amazing, a true Ironman who refuses to take a play off,” Reilly said. “He’s tireless. To lead our program to the Final Four for the first time in program history, what he’s done has been incredible.”
Johnson, 23, is majoring in psychology and minoring in African American studies. He graduated from Rivers School in Weston but attended Lexington Public Schools through middle school.
LexObserver reached Johnson Monday night for a Q&A. Answers are edited for brevity and clarity.
How would you describe your connection to Lexington?
I love where I live. A lot of my childhood memories and some of my closest friends to this day can be tied to the town. I still have a close bond with Lexington as a whole. Whether it’s playing youth sports, being in the town center, the summer carnival, I have a lot of great childhood memories. Every time I come home for breaks, I’m always very excited to be back.
Take me through the stops on your basketball career leading up to college.
I started playing basketball at a really young age, like since I could walk. I played a little bit of rec league through the town and then bounced around with local AAU programs. My junior year was during COVID-19. AAU was limited where there was really strict testing and I only played like six or seven games. Recruiting was a little rough during that period of time because coaches couldn’t go out and see you play. I was fortunate enough to have played for a really good high school where my coach (Keith Zalaski) was super connected within New England and the world of basketball. He helped me gain exposure and connect with coaches.
You played in the NCAA Tournament as a freshman, but didn’t get back until your senior year. What did you learn from that initial experience?
I took a lot from it, how hard it is to win postseason basketball games at this level. We had a really good year, won our conference tournament, but lost in the second round. I found out that no matter how good you think you are, once you get into tournament time the margins are super thin. You have to work so hard and be so focused throughout an entire season to be really good. You have to enjoy those moments when you have them.
Wesleyan went 13-12 last year and 4-6 in the league before losing in the NESCAC quarterfinals. What changed this season?
We had a little change in the roster. We had a lot of graduates who were heavy minutes players for us, so a lot of new faces came into the program. We played a lot of freshmen and sophomores. I was, I think, the most experienced player coming as a junior. We were really young and hadn’t seen what adversity looked like. We lost a lot of close games due to the fact of our immaturity and not having been there. Looking over to this year, we got a whole year under our belt playing together fall through spring. People were really working on their games and made big jumps. We now have big junior and senior classes, and suddenly we were a really experienced and veteran group. You add the experience with the motivation to overall team connectivity, and all that culminates with some really good success.
It took overtime to win in the Elite Eight against No. 8 Emory on your home floor. How did your team pull it out?
Crazy game. If you look at the box score, our shooting numbers are identical. In the second half, we extended the lead out to like 12 or 13 and were kind of holding them at bay, but they started hitting shots and we made some costly turnovers and got a little cold and they clawed their way back. There were two combined field goals in overtime. In those stretches, it just comes down to who can make one more play and do the little things that make a big difference. Luckily, I hit a 3-pointer with three minutes left in overtime to put us up one and it just came down to making stops. Even though our shots weren’t falling, we held them to their lowest point total this season.
Wesleyan beat Trinity during the regular season, but they also gave your team its only loss during the league tournament. What is the difference to when you’re playing a team you already know on a big stage?
When you’re playing a new team that you’ve never seen before the approach is a little different because you’re just trying to familiarize yourself with that team and deep dive on what they do. Since we’ve already seen them twice, we both know each other like the back of our hand. We know all their plays, and players, and they know ours. When you get down to this stage and play a team for the third time it’s really the little things that matter. Can you add a tweak here they may not have seen, or are they going to add something into their playbook? Especially at this stage in the playoffs, you don’t want to overanalyze things. Sometimes you’ve just got to roll the ball out and play and say let’s just do what we do and play how we play.
What are your postgraduate plans?
Undecided. I’m definitely still considering professional basketball overseas. Right now, I’m super focused on the games we have, but I could definitely see myself wanting to play. Once the season ends I’ll start reflecting on whether I want to hang up the shoes for good. As of now, I’m looking at the teaching/coaching profession or a job in technology sales. I’m still kind of up in the air about it.