Rutgers Hoops big man Myles Johnson eager for third season

Redshirt sophomore big man Myles Johnson is expected to play a big role this season for the Rutgers Men’s Basketball team after the team lost some of their top big men to transfer and graduation.

Here at The Knight Report we were able to catch up with Johnson to discuss his offseason, improvements in his game and more.

“I pride myself on rebounding, especially in practice,” Johnson told TKR. “We have a log chart of how many rebounds each of us get per week and I’ve led the team the past couple of weeks in practice. I’ve just been making sure that I’m on the boards, especially since we did lose one of our top rebounders.”

Last season, the men’s basketball team was ranked last in free throw percentage for the Big Ten (63.7%) and 340 out of 353 in division one programs. Johnson was second to last on the team finishing the year shooting 40.5%, but he has been working hard this offseason to improve that.

“The number one thing I’ve been working on to improve my game this offseason is my free throw shooting,” he said. “It’s a big aspect of our team, we need to make more free throws because I think we had one of the lowest free throw shooting teams in the Big Ten last year. We really need to work on that. Personally I’ve changed my form and I’ve been working on it a lot in practice and on my own.”

This past offseason, Rutgers added three new players to the teams roster. With Johnson being in his third year with the program, he has been working to help these newcomers adjusting to life at Rutgers.

“I tell the newcomers it’s going to be a long season,” said Johnson. “Right now it’s the beginning and you might think it’s going to go by fast, but it’s going to be a grind. You just have to mentally prepare yourself for that and make sure that you keep your body healthy. Also, make sure you know what you are supposed to in practice and what not.”