Keyontae Johnson has become ‘inspiring’ story for Kansas State after health scare

Scroll through social media during any Kansas State men’s basketball game this season and you are bound to find high praise for Keyontae Johnson.

Some have already called him the nation’s Comeback Player of the Year. Others have described him as the best story in college hoops.

Kind words roll in for the 6-foot-6 senior forward every time he takes the court. They are impossible to miss.

“I am just thankful for everything that I have overcome and I really appreciate all the support that I have behind me,” Johnson said. “People, everywhere I go now, stop and tell me that my story is so inspiring. It gives me a different mojo, seeing how many people look up to me and watch me. I want to go out there and not disappoint them.”

Johnson is an easy player to root for — not only because he is off to a sensational start averaging 17.3 points and 6.4 rebounds for the Wildcats this season, but also because it looked like he may never play basketball again two years ago.

He took an unconventional journey to this point. Johnson began his college career at Florida and starred with the Gators for more than two seasons, averaging 14 points and 7.1 rebounds as a sophomore on his way to first-team all-conference honors in the SEC. Back then, he was a projected NBA lottery pick and the best returning player on a Gators team that was expected to do big things when he was a junior.

But things didn’t work out that way. His season ended early when he had a health scare during a nonconference game against Florida State. Johnson collapsed on the court because of a heart inflammation in December of 2020, and no one knew if he would make it through the night, let alone dribble a basketball again.

He survived the incident and his passion for the game never wavered. Even though he was unable to return to the floor with the Gators, or do much of anything in terms of exercise for the next 20 months while doctors monitored his heart rate, he pushed to continue playing somewhere.

Eventually, that led him to a new beginning at K-State.

“I never thought about quitting basketball,” Johnson said. “I mean, it was difficult for me at times not knowing what was going to happen next, but I got cleared to play and went from one good medical report to the next. I really wanted to play basketball again. So that was my main focus. I just prayed to God that everything would work out, and now I’m in a great situation.”

Indeed, things have worked out well for Johnson since he returned to the court for his first college game against Texas-Rio Grande Valley in early November.

He scored 13 points and grabbed two rebounds that night, not bad considering everything he went through just to be in uniform at Bramlage Coliseum. Turns out, he was just getting started. Johnson has scored as many as 28 points in a game for the Wildcats while leading them to a 9-1 record, which includes a tournament championship at the Cayman Islands Classic.

Johnson has been so good in Manhattan that K-State coach Jerome Tang has criticized himself for not scripting more touches for the team’s best player.

“Doesn’t he make it look effortless?” Tang said. “It looks effortless for him out there. Sometimes I wonder if he is playing hard, but then you see the read outs of his numbers, his speed up and down the court, his jumps. ... You say, ‘My man was getting after it.’ But it just looks so easy for him. I’m amazed.”

Some expected Johnson to start slowly for the Wildcats. After taking nearly two years off, there was bound to be some rust when he returned to the starting lineup. Right?

Well, that has not been the case. He improbably has scored at least 12 points in all 10 of his games. And Tang has not needed to limit his minutes. Johnson has seen at least 30 minutes in seven games, including 40 during an overtime victory against Nevada.

The following day, he hit a game-winning shot against LSU.

“He’s a special player,” Tang said. “For us, it was just about getting his legs underneath him and then finding the best ways to allow his talents to shine.”

Thing is, Johnson might still be warming up.

His endurance has not returned to where it was during his Florida days. In the preseason, he felt like he was playing at about 50% of his peak athletic ability. He estimates that number has slowly risen to 85%.

“I should be 100% by the start of conference play,” Johnson said. “I’m not far away.”

There’s a chance his feel-good story is about to get even better.