STEPHENVILLE — For the fourth time this year, Tarleton State Men’s Basketball junior guard Dior Johnson was named the WAC Newcomer of the Week, the conference office announced on Monday afternoon.
Johnson becomes the second WAC player to earn newcomer of the week four times in a single season since the WAC debuted the award for the 2023-24 season. This year, Johnson is the only player to win the award multiple times. In the award’s three-year history, only ten players including Johnson have won the award multiple times in the same season. Johnson is the sixth individual to win at least three, with Tyon Grant-Foster owning the record of six in the 2023-24 season.
The junior guard rattled off his nation-leading sixth 30+ point performance against Abilene Christian in the Texans only game of the week. Johnson accounted for 33 points with 20 of those coming in the second half. It marked the fifth time this season that he has scored 20 or more points in the second 20 minutes of the game. He also notched three rebounds and a pair of steals while shooting 9-for-19 from the floor in 33 minutes of action.
He also set yet another Tarleton State single game record. For the second time this season, he made 15 free throws in a WAC game, tying his record he set last week for most free throws made in a Tarleton State game in WAC play. He not only made 15 free throws, but he was also perfect at the line making 15-for-15. He now holds the record for the most free throws made at 100 percent accuracy in a single game in program history.
Johnson currently ranks second in the NCAA in points per game this season (23.8) trailing Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli who leads the way at 24.1. Among players without a single start this season, he leads in points per game and total points. He has 55 more points in three less games than Colorado’s Isaiah Johnson who is second in total points without starting a single game. The junior also ranks eighth in the nation with 103 made free throws. Johnson is 46th in all of Division I with 310 total points, even after missing four games this season.
Tarleton State is back in action this week and hits the road to open a three-game road trip opening with Southern Utah on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. CT. The squad will stay in Utah for its second matchup of the week, a date with Utah Tech on Saturday night at 8 pm CT.
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