Aaron Westley Johnson (born October 27, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for

Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski, also known as Arged BM Slam Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski for sponsorship reasons, is a Polish basketball team, based in Ostrów Wielkopolski. They play in the Polish Basketball League (PLK) since its promotion back in 2015 ...

of the Polish Basketball League. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for UAB. As a senior in

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, he led

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

in assists with 7.70 per game. In addition, he was named Conference USA Men's Basketball Player of the Year.

Early life

Johnson was born and raised in the Englewood area of

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. He is the fourth-born child of 12. Despite a rough childhood, Johnson became the first in his family to attend college and graduate.

High school career

Johnson played high school basketball at Hubbard High School where he was a four-year starter. As a junior he averaged 21 points and nine assists per game, although the team finished with an 11–14 record. The following year, however, Johnson led Hubbard to a 21–9 record while winning the regional championship. He achieved all-city honors after averaging 14 points and nine assists per game. Johnson was also rated as one of the top 25 players in the state of Illinois according to

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

College career

Johnson played college ball for University of Alabama at Birmingham. During the 2009–10 season he was named to the third team all

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

and first team all defense. Johnson's best season was his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

year, where he averaged 11.8 points and an NCAA-leading 7.7 assists per game. He led UAB to a 22–9 overall record (12–4 conference) as they won their first outright C-USA regular season title. Johnson also became the first player in UAB history to earn Conference USA Player of the Year honors and an All-American honorable mention. He also was named to the first team all-conference, first team all-defense, and District 11 Second Team. Johnson's best game came in a triple overtime win against the conference favorite

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stude ...

. He ended the game with 26 points on 9–17 shooting, 14 assists, seven rebounds and 1 steal in 54 minutes of playing time. He also tallied a career best 39 points, four assists and four rebounds in a conference playoff loss to

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

. During his last game as a college player, Johnson fractured his

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

. He finished his career at UAB as its all-time leader in assists for a career (664), single season (239), double-figures in a game (10), single season average (7.70) and single game (14). Johnson also finished second in Conference USA history in career assists.

College statistics

Professional career

Following the close of his collegiate career, Johnson signed with Ostuni Basket of Italy's second division ( Legadue Basket). In his first professional year Johnson averaged 15.0 points, 2.4 rebounds, 4.5 assist, 3.7 turnovers, and 1.5 steals while shooting 55% from 2 point field goal range and 33% from 3 along the way to being named to the Legadue SuisseGas All-Star Game. Johnson increased his scoring average in the playoffs to 22.3, which was good for 2nd in the league. On July 19, 2012, Johnson signed with Vanoli Cremona in Italy's A-1 league. In November 2013, he was acquired by the Bakersfield Jam. On January 23, 2014, he was waived by the Jam. For the 2014–15 season Johnson signed with the Finnish team

Nilan Bisons Loimaa LoKoKo Bisons Loimaa is a Finland, Finnish professional basketball club that is based in Loimaa. History The club was established in 1964 as Loimaan Korikonkarit. The team was renamed Bisons after it was promoted to the Korisliiga in 2011. The t ...

. On September 15, 2015, Johnson signed with Romanian team SCM CSU Craiova. On July 17, 2016, Johnson signed with Polish team

Professional statistics

References

External links

Italian League profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Aaron 1988 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Finland American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Latvia American expatriate basketball people in Poland American expatriate basketball people in Romania American expatriate basketball people in Sweden American men's basketball players Bakersfield Jam players Basketball players from Chicago BK Ventspils players Bisons Loimaa players Point guards Reyer Venezia players SCM U Craiova (basketball) players Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski players UAB Blazers men's basketball players Vanoli Cremona players