BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana point guard Xavier Johnson is ranked 11th in our countdown of the best Indiana players of the 2020s so far. But if you take the production out of it, Johnson might be at the top of the list of players who embody what Indiana basketball has been all about in the 2020s.

Why? Sometimes Johnson was great. Sometimes Johnson was not so great.

Johnson was on the court for quite a bit of it. He had three event-filled seasons with the Hoosiers from 2021-24. He featured prominently in one NCAA Tournament season, was hurt for another, and then was part of the reason the Hoosiers fell short of expectations in the 2024 season.

Johnson arrived at Indiana as a seasoned veteran. He had played three seasons at Pittsburgh and started all but two games of his 84 with the Panthers. What Mike Woodson wanted was an experienced point guard to run his offense and to provide a dynamic presence on the floor.

At times, that’s exactly what Woodson got. Asked to be more of a distributor than a scorer as he was at Pitt, Johnson’s scoring average declined from 14.2 points in his final season at Pitt to 12.1 in his first season with the Hoosiers.

Johnson’s assist average also dropped from 5.7 to 5.1 per game, but he seemed to get better as he went along in his first Indiana season. That was born out in his hot streak to end the 2022 campaign.

In the final five games of the regular season and in three Big Ten Tournament games, Johnson averaged 18.1 points, 6.8 assists and made 45.2% of his 3-point shots.

Johnson fell off to 10.5 points per game in the NCAA Tournament games against Wyoming and Saint Mary’s, but excitement was high that Johnson could replicate that kind of production in the 2022-23 season and lead Indiana to the top of the Big Ten.

That’s not how it played out for either Johnson or the Hoosiers.

Indiana started 7-0 and reached a high-water mark of a No. 10 ranking before it all started to unravel.

When Indiana faced top-level competition, it struggled. Indiana lost 89-75 against No. 10 Arizona in Las Vegas and one week later at Kansas, it fell apart for both Indiana and Johnson.

Indiana lost 84-62 at Allen Fieldhouse, but Johnson came out of it the worst. He broke his right foot when it was stepped on it in a scramble for a loose ball, and he did not play again that season.

Indiana made the tournament without Johnson, but Woodson had built much of the team identity based on Johnson’s skill set, so the Hoosiers fell short of expectations as far as Big Ten contention was concerned.

Johnson got a waiver from the NCAA to play another season, but 2023 was also a star-crossed, injury-plagued season. Johnson missed seven games in December with another foot injury and six more in February with an elbow injury.

Johnson never got into rhythm. He had his worst Indiana season as he averaged 7.6 points and 2.8 assists. Indiana was depending on Johnson to lead the way for a team that was inexperienced elsewhere on the floor, but that was not to be. Indiana finished 19-14, and it was the beginning of the end for Woodson as head coach.

Johnson continues to pursue his basketball dream. He played for three G League teams in the 2024-25 season. In 25 total games, he averaged 2.6 points.

Johnson did better at Indiana, but in many ways, his ups and downs were symbolic of what Indiana went through as a program for much of the 2020s.

Previous men’s basketball top 16 players of the 2020s

No. 12 – Justin Smith
No. 13 – Rob Phinisee
No. 14 – Luke Goode
No. 15 – Devonte Green
No. 16 – Anthony Leal

Tyrese Haliburton scored in the final second as the Indiana Pacers snatched victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in game one of the NBA Finals.

His 21-foot shot put the Pacers in front for the first time in the match, with 0.3 seconds remaining as they secured a 111-110 win.

The Thunder, with home court advantage for the first two games, had led by 15 points during the fourth quarter, and in the closing seconds the ball was in the hands of NBA most valuable player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

However, he missed a two-point attempt with 12 seconds remaining and the Pacers grabbed the rebound, passed the ball to Haliburton and he drove down the court before hitting the winning points.

It’s the fourth time in the 2025 play-offs that the 25-year-old has recorded a big-time score – three times to win a match and once to force overtime.

Indiana won despite turning the ball over 25 times, with 20 of those coming in the first half.

“It’s not the recipe to win,” Haliburton said.

“We can’t turn the ball over that much. (But) come May and June, it doesn’t matter how you get them, just get them.”

Team-mate Myles Turner said of Haliburton: “Some players will say they have it, but there are other players that show it. He wants to be the one to hit that shot. He doesn’t shy away from that moment.”

Gilgeous-Alexander was the game’s leading scorer with 38 points, while Pascal Siakam top scored for the Pacers with 19 points, followed by Obi Toppin with 17.

“We played like we were trying to keep the lead instead of trying to extend it or be aggressive,” said the Thunder’s Jalen Williams.

Game two of the best-of-seven series is also in Oklahoma and will start at 19:00 local time on Sunday, 8 June (01:00 BST on Monday).

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