John Adams: With maturity comes composure for Johnson

Glory Johnson on beating Georgia, 80-51

Lady Vols beat Georgia, 80-51

Glory Johnson's body language was out of sync with the scoreboard in the last eight minutes Thursday evening at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Tennessee's senior forward first dove on the floor for a loose ball. Moments later, her facial expression suggested the game was hanging in the balance as she rushed to cut off a Georgia pass to the post.

Neither the dive nor the rush was reflective of a game that had turned the sixth-ranked Lady Vols' way early in the second half. They were on their way to an 80-51 victory over the 16th-ranked Lady Bulldogs.

Johnson's effort and numbers (22 points and 13 rebounds) would have been noticeable on any night. They were glaring in the face of an uncharacteristically lackluster performance by Georgia.

"She does what she does," said Georgia coach Andy Landers, who viewed her dominance as another example of his team's incompetence. "She didn't do anything that you probably haven't seen 30 times.

"That's what she does. We didn't resist."

Landers pulled back from the stinging assessment of his team's play long enough to point out the specific damages inflicted by Johnson. She pursued rebounds with a vengeance and repeatedly drew contact and fouls at the other end.

Or, in Landers' words: "She goes to the offensive boards (and) manhandles whoever is there. If you try and guard her, she comes right at you and makes you foul her."

Those aren't new developments for an All-SEC player who has averaged better than 10 points and eight rebounds for her career. But UT associate head coach Holly Warlick noticed something else, too.

"I can't say enough about Glory Johnson," Warlick said. "I think she was everywhere. She was rebounding at the offensive end and at the defensive end. And she kept her composure."

Composure is the most recent addition to Johnson's game. It didn't come naturally.

"Most of the time, I used to get really frustrated when I was getting beat up in the paint or calls weren't going my way," Johnson said. "And I would react by fouling.

"Now that I'm a senior, you can't do that. "I try to hold my composure and let the refs handle it."

Having at least temporarily quelled her inner referee, Johnson has been freed to do what she does best, score inside and rebound at both ends of the court. Her recent statistics indicate she has improved more than her composure.

Johnson began the season as a 61.2 percent free-throw shooter. Since going 5-for-13 at the foul line in a loss to Virginia, Johnson has made 76 percent of her foul shots during an 11-game stretch.

She also has responded well to a 97-80 loss to Stanford two weeks ago. Johnson played harder than any Lady Vol against Stanford while managing 18 points and six rebounds. Yet she couldn't compete with Stanford All-American Nnemkadi Ogwumike, who had a career-high 42 points and 17 rebounds.

Johnson has followed that up with four consecutive games of double-figure points and rebounds. And her effort has been as noteworthy as her stats.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/johnadamskns.