Myles Johnson (born March 18, 1999) is an American former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. 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 the

Rutgers Scarlet Knights The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are the athletic teams that represent Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus. In sports, Rutgers is famously known for being the "Birthplace of College Football", hosting the first ever intercollegiate football ...

and the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

. He was named to the all-defensive team in both the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conferen ...

with Rutgers and the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

with UCLA.

High school career

Born in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay region of the metropolitan area. Torrance has of beachfront on the Pacific Oc ...

, Johnson played basketball for

Long Beach Polytechnic High School Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby ...

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. He missed his entire junior season with a

patella The patella, also known as the kneecap, is a flat, rounded triangular bone which articulates with the femur (thigh bone) and covers and protects the anterior articular surface of the knee joint. The patella is found in many tetrapods, such as m ...

injury, which caused

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

college programs to stop recruiting him. As a senior, Johnson was named to the ''

Press-Telegram The ''Press-Telegram'' is a paid daily newspaper published in Long Beach, California. Coverage area for the ''Press-Telegram'' includes Long Beach, Lakewood, Signal Hill, Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, Compton, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, Ly ...

'' First Team Dream Team. He committed to playing college basketball for

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and w ...

over offers from

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part o ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

and

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. He was drawn to Rutgers' engineering program, and decided on the school before even meeting their basketball team.

College career

Johnson opted to

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

his first year at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and wa ...

to become stronger and work on his game. As a freshman, he averaged 4.8 points and 5.7

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

per game, which ranked third among

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

freshman. He posted 18 points and 14 rebounds, both career-highs in a 63–44 victory against

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757 ...

on December 22, 2019. On January 3, 2020, he scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in a 79–62 win against

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the so ...

. In his sophomore season, Johnson entered the starting lineup and averaged 7.8 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.5

blocks Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

per game. He shot 60.2 percent from the field, which led the Big Ten. As a junior, Johnson averaged eight points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, and the Scarlet Knights were selected for the

2021 NCAA tournament 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length ...

. He earned Big Ten All-Defensive Team honors. He completed his undergraduate degree in

electrical and computer engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

in May 2021. In 2021–22, Johnson transferred to the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

, choosing the Bruins' program over

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

's. He filled in for starting forward Cody Riley, who suffered a knee injury in the season opener, which kept him out for almost two months. Johnson played in all 35 games, starting in 15, and averaged 3.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. He was named to the

All-Defensive Team. After the season, Johnson announced that he would not return for another season and instead planned to focus on completing his master's degree and pursuing a career in engineering. He considered a pro basketball career overseas, but decided against living in a country where he did not speak the language.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 0 , , 17.6 , , .555 , , – , , .405 , , 5.7 , , 1.1 , , .7 , , .7 , , 4.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 25 , , 23.6 , , .602 , , .000 , , .363 , , 7.9 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , 1.5 , , 7.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 28 , , 22 , , 24.7 , , .628 , , – , , .435 , , 8.5 , , .8 , , 1.1 , , 2.4 , , 8.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

, 35 , , 15 , , 18.1 , , .630 , , – , , .533 , , 5.4 , , .7 , , .6 , , 1.3 , , 3.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 125 , , 62 , , 20.8 , , .603 , , .000 , , .424 , , 6.8 , , .9 , , .7 , , 1.5 , , 5.9 Source:

Personal life

Johnson is an

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

and

computer engineering Computer engineering (CoE or CpE) is a branch of electrical engineering and computer science that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer enginee ...

major in college. While attending

, he founded BLKdev, a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

that aims to support black students interested in

science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context o ...

. Johnson was a member of the Rutgers Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. In 2022, he was awarded a Tom Hansen medal by the Pac-12 for his performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership. His father is an

electrician An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenanc ...

and his aunt is an engineer.

References

External links

UCLA Bruins bioRutgers Scarlet Knights bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Myles 1999 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Long Beach, California Centers (basketball) Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball players UCLA Bruins men's basketball players