You may have heard this once, twice, or a million times before, but this Kentucky basketball team is in desperate need of two things: a backup point guard and 3-point shooting. The latter has been a concern since this team was put together over the summer, but the point guard void really manifested when Jaland Lowe‘s shoulder followed the path of Lamont Butler‘s. Kentucky has been scrambling for answers to fill these holes, but at least against Bellarmine, Jasper Johnson saw what his team needed, stepped up, and said, “I got you.”

Jasper Johnson did his best Jaland Lowe impersonation

Mark Pope has run the gamut of trying to remold any non-frontcourt player on his roster into a point guard. It started with Collin Chandler, an experiment that quickly resulted in the realization that he was much better off on the ball. Denzel Aberdeen has done his best at the point and looked good at times, but this, too, has always felt like trying to shoot a square ball through a round hoop.

Next man up, Jasper Johnson. Touted as a combo guard out of high school, the highly rated freshman has looked more like a freshman than anyone highly rated so far this season. That’s certainly not a bad thing, though. Freshmen who are elite from day one might be plentiful in college basketball this year, but that is more of a rare phenomenon than an expectation for anyone with five stars beside their name on an On3 site.

However, during the Bellarine game, if you squinted at the TV and only saw a skinny left-hander weaving and bobbing through the lane like a Plinko chip coming down the board, you might have thought Jaland Lowe was playing after all.

Johnson finished the game with seven assists off the bench, but more importantly, his ability to get in the lane and kick it to open shooters kept the offense from looking stagnant, as it so often does when Lowe is out of the game. At least against Bellarmine, Johnson looked the part of a legit point guard.

Mark Pope felt confident with Jasper running the offense

It is one thing for fans to appreciate what Johnson did, but Mark Pope liked what he saw, too. “I thought Jasper was really good [against Bellarmine]. I had a lot of confidence in him today on the offensive end.”

Somewhere in the basketball handbook, step one into earning more minutes is by instilling confidence in your head coach.

“I’m always comfortable,” Johnson said of his point guard duties. “Coach is always telling me to make plays for teammates, so I’m doing whatever I can to playmake, communicate with my guys, make sure they’re in the right spots, and build from there. … Coach thinks I’m one of the best playmaking guys on the team. Getting out there and trying to make plays for teammates is something that I do.”

Johnson has yet to do it against opponents ranked higher than 300-something in KenPom, but he very well may have those opportunities coming up when SEC play begins next week. Kentucky is in dire need of a backup point guard, and if Jasper can fill that void, this team can win some big-time games.

Jasper Johnson made shots, too

Johnson didn’t only make plays for his teammates; he made plays for himself as well. His best move of the night (by far) was the spinning step-back 3, a shot that looked straight out of an old school And-1 tape.

That play might have been a little bit of a no-no-no-no-YES type of shot, but it showed the NBA-level playmaking he possesses. Johnson finished the night 3-5 from behind the arc, and aside from Kam Williams’ uncanny eight 3-pointers and Denzel Abdereen’s four, he had the best shooting nights of any Wildcat on the floor.

Sure, this came against Bellarmine. More pointedly, it came against a Bellarmine squad that played zone defense most of the game, leaving more open looks for Kentucky from 3 than they have seen in a single game all year. However, if Jasper can knock down his 3s, even when he is on the court alongside PG1, Jaland Lowe, then he won’t have to worry about minutes much longer.

Kentucky has two holes it needs to fill going into SEC play: a reliable backup point guard and 3-point shooting. Jasper Johnson could be the bulldozer that fills in both of them.