Johnny Juzang
Jonathan Anh Juzang (born March 17, 2001) is an American college basketball player for the UCLA Bruins of the Pac-12 Conference. He began his college career playing one season with the Kentucky Wildcats before transferring to UCLA.
![]() Juzang with Kentucky in 2020 | |
No. 3 – UCLA Bruins | |
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Position | Shooting guard |
League | Pac-12 Conference |
Personal information | |
Born | Los Angeles, California | March 17, 2001
Nationality | American |
Listed height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) |
Listed weight | 210 lb (95 kg) |
Career information | |
High school | Harvard-Westlake School (Los Angeles, California) |
College |
High school career
Juzang played high school basketball for Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. In his freshman season, he averaged 16.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and two assists per game and was teammates with Cassius Stanley. Juzang won the CIF Southern Section (CIF-SS) Division 1A championship after recording 21 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in the final.[1] As a sophomore, he averaged 22.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, leading his team to a 22–6 record.[2] In his junior season, Juzang averaged 23 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game and was named Mission League MVP.[3]
Recruiting
After the season, Juzang reclassified from the 2020 class to the 2019 class, allowing him to play collegiately in the following season.[4] He was a four-star recruit and one of the top small forwards in his class.[5][6] On May 10, 2019, he committed to play college basketball for Kentucky over Virginia. He had also been interested in UCLA, but their coach, Steve Alford, was fired, and the connection faded.[7]
Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date | |
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Johnny Juzang SF |
Los Angeles, CA | Harvard-Westlake School (CA) | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | May 10, 2019 | |
Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals:![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||||
Overall recruiting rankings: Rivals: 34 247Sports: 30 ESPN: 29 | ||||||
Sources:
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College career
Juzang received limited playing time for much of his freshman season at Kentucky. On February 8, 2020, he scored a season-high 13 points with three three-pointers in a 77–64 win over Tennessee.[8] As a freshman, Juzang averaged 2.9 points, shooting 37.7 percent from the field, in 12.4 minutes per game. After the season, he announced that he was transferring from Kentucky.[9] Juzang decided to transfer to UCLA under coach Mick Cronin, and he was granted a waiver to play immediately instead of the usual requirement to sit out a season.[10][11]
Juzang missed the first four games of the 2020–21 season with a stress reaction in his right foot.[12][13] In his first game, he scored 10 points off the bench in a win over San Diego.[14] He moved into the starting lineup in the following game against Marquette.[15] On January 14, 2021, Juzang scored a then-career-high 17 points, leading the Bruins in scoring in a 91–61 blowout win over Washington State.[16] On January 24, against Stanford, he set a new career-high in points with 27 in a 73–72 loss in overtime,[17] the Bruins' first conference defeat of the season. The game included a twelve-and-a-half minute stretch where Juzang scored all 21 of his team's points in a row during that span.
Career statistics
GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
Personal life
Juzang's older brother, Christian, played college basketball as a point guard for Harvard,[18] and he became a player in the Vietnam Basketball Association.[19] His father, Maxie, is Creole, and his mother, Hanh, is Vietnamese. He has a younger sister, Lauren.[7]
References
- Barnes, Evan (August 28, 2017). "Harvard-Westlake boys basketball rides youth to Division 1A championship". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
- "Johnny Juzang". USA Basketball. January 15, 2019. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
- Fattal, Tarek (March 27, 2019). "Daily News 2019 All-Area boys basketball selections, awards". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
- Fattal, Tarek (April 24, 2019). "4-Star Johnny Juzang Commitment Gives Kentucky 2019's No. 1 Recruiting Class". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
- Daniels, Tim (May 10, 2019). "Harvard-Westlake's Johnny Juzang announces he will reclassify and attend college this fall". Bleacher Report. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
- Hale, Jon (May 10, 2019). "What Johnny Juzang's commitment means for Kentucky basketball recruiting". Courier Journal. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
- Tucker, Kyle (June 18, 2019). "'Go get it': Johnny Juzang comes to Kentucky ready to work, prove his value". The Athletic. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
- Tipton, Jerry (February 8, 2020). "'Way to play, kid!' Calipari's glad to see Juzang step up for Kentucky". Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
- Cobb, David (March 27, 2020). "Kentucky's Johnny Juzang entering NCAA transfer portal after freshman season". CBS Sports. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
- Cobb, David (April 9, 2020). "Kentucky transfer Johnny Juzang commits to UCLA and will pursue a waiver to play immediate eligibility". CBS Sports. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
- "NCAA makes Johnny Juzang eligible at UCLA for next season". NBC Sports. Associated Press. May 27, 2020. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
- Tipton, Jerry (December 17, 2020). "Former Wildcat Johnny Juzang embraces new look, new uniform". Kentucky.com. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
- Fattal, Tarek (November 26, 2020). "Short-handed UCLA loses to San Diego State in season opener". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
- Nguyen, Thuc Nhi (December 9, 2020). "Johnny Juzang quickly adds some zing to offense in UCLA's win over San Diego". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- "UCLA holds off Marquette 69-60 to win 5th in a row". ESPN.com. AP. December 12, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- "UCLA rolls to 91–61 win over WSU, goes to 6-0 in Pac-12". ESPN.com. AP. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
- "Da Silva's buzzer-beat [sic] lifts Stanford over No. 24 UCLA". ESPN.com. AP. 23 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
- Tipton, Jerry (September 27, 2019). "Playing against Harvard tops Kentucky basketball freshman's wish list". Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
- "Unique season up ahead for VBA, the rising basketball league in Vietnam". FIBA.basketball. October 15, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.