Former Moon star Puff Johnson decides to transfer from North Carolina to Penn State

New Penn State coach Mike Rhoades landed a significant addition from the NCAA transfer portal Wednesday when former Moon star Puff Johnson announced plans to enroll this year.

Let’s Rock #WeAre pic.twitter.com/Af2bpiMfEv

— Puff Johnson (@PuffJohnson14) April 26, 2023

Johnson, who led Moon to a PIAA championship in 2019, is transferring from North Carolina where he scored 200 points over the past three seasons, including 11 in the Tar Heels’ loss to Kansas in the 2022 national championship game.

Penn State already had secured commitments from three other transfers: Ace Baldwin Jr. and Nick Kerr Jr., who played for Rhoades at VCU, and Zach Hicks, formerly of Temple.

Johnson (6-foot-8) totaled 1,960 points in his high school career, including his senior year at Hillcrest (Ariz.) Prep where he averaged 14.4 points and 8.2 rebounds and shot 44.6% from 3-point range. As a junior at Moon, he averaged 22.1 points and 9.4 rebounds. Overall, Johnson’s teams at Hillcrest and Moon won 103 of 122 games.

Johnson said he learned to be tough on the basketball court by playing in the backyard with his brother, Cam, a first-round draft pick of the Phoenix Suns in 2019. Cam Johnson, who now plays for the Brooklyn Nets, started his collegiate career at Pitt before transferring to North Carolina.

Puff Johnson said one-on-one games with his brother while they were quarantined during covid were epic battles.

“It started with us just shooting, and it went to him saying, ‘You can’t guard me,’ and me saying, ‘You can’t guard me,’ ” Puff told the Tribune-Review last year. “It ended with Cam pushing me into the bushes, me having a whole bunch of scratches on my back, blood running down my knee, big blister on the bottom of my foot. Probably us yelling and the ball being thrown somewhere or other and my dad saying, ‘That’s it. You have to go inside.’ ”