Ben Johnson went “all in” on Cam Christie and it’s paying off

The Gophers are amidst an impressive three-game winning streak with victories over Penn State, Northwestern and Michigan State. A big reason for their success has been freshman Cam Christie. The Illinois native has been averaging 17.3 PPG over his last three contests, becoming the first Minnesota freshman to do so since Daniel Oturu.

Ben Johnson found his “guy”

Two summers ago, Ben Johnson had just finished his first season as head coach of the Gophers, going 13-17 with a barren roster that he shuffled together with mostly transfers. Given the circumstance it was a relatively expected season. Jamison Battle and Payton Willis looked the part of solid college players, but the program was missing that transcendent star. Johnson had a successful offseason, bringing in Dawson Garcia and Ta’Lon Cooper from the transfer portal and an impressive in-state recruiting class which included Pharrel Payne, Josh Ola-Joseph and Braeden Carrington. While all of these players were set to contribute in 2022, the Gophers got a verbal commitment from high school junior Cameron Christie.

“I like the direction they are heading in and I developed a close bond with coach Johnson. They did a great job demonstrating they wanted me for me,” Christie said in a Chicago Sun Times article.

The younger brother of former McDonald’s All-American and now Los Angeles Lakers guard Max Christie, Cam seemed to always in his brother’s shadow. But he made a name for himself at Rolling Meadows High School. In his senior season, he averaged 25 PPG, 5 RPG and 4 APG, while shooting a remarkable 88% from the free throw line. In his prep career he ended as the second all-time leading scorer @ Rolling Meadows, made a school record 101 threes and was named 1st Team All-State (IBCA and Sun-Times). He finished as the 84th ranked player in the class of 2023 (via 247sports) and chose Minnesota over top offers from Michigan State, USC and Ohio State.

Quick development

Christie missed the Gophers’ first game of the 2023-24 season, but in game No. 2 he quickly showed his incredibly high ceiling. In only 26 minutes vs. UTSA, he scored 18 points (FGs: 5-8) and added three rebounds and four assists.

The following game against Missouri was the Gophers “marquee” non-conference game on the schedule. In 18 minutes of playing time, Christie was 0-3 and had only two points, but Ben Johnson and the Gophers’ staff trusted him to close out the game, they even trusted him with the ball in his hands taking the last shot… it didn’t go in, and the Gophers didn’t win, but it sent a serious message that Johnson has serious trust in Christie.

Over the next 16 games, Christie looked like a talented true freshman. He scored double figures eight times, but he made some mistakes that a young player typically does. Then, in the Gophers’ impressive second half comeback at Penn State it seemed to flip. Christie had 17 points (FGs: 6-10) and hit big shots down the stretch. The following game Johnson trusted his “guy” down the stretch again vs. Northwestern, but this time it paid off with 15 points and one of the biggest buckets of the game. Then against Michigan State, the school his older brother Max attended, Cam had arguably his best performance of the season scoring 19 points on an incredibly efficient eight shots, leading the Maroon & Gold to their biggest win of the season. When asked about his true freshman’s performance head coach Ben Johnson called back to that pivotal moment earlier in the season.

“So people probably thought I was crazy in the Missouri game, Ben Johnson said after the win Tuesday. And now you guys are understanding why I did it, because I’ve seen it.”

NBA-level ceiling/future

As it stands now, Cam Christie is averaging 11.8 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 2.2 APG on 45.1% shooting from the field. For any normal true freshman those are remarkable numbers. I believe one of Richard Pitino’s biggest negatives during his tenure with the Gophers was that he wasn’t producing any NBA talent. Having only Amir Coffey and Daniel Oturu in eight seasons, is uninspiring for a major conference program. While, Ben Johnson was brought in with the hopes of keeping NBA talent like Suggs, Holmgren and the Jones brothers in-state, producing talent like Christie would make fans not care where the heck the players are from.

Many people thought Johnson was crazy, giving Christie 18 minutes and the last shot of the game in early November. If the Christie-experiment didn’t work out this team would’ve likely had to rely on Isaiah Ihnen in a similar role, but they desperately needed a player with Christie’s shot-making and shot-creating prowess. Every college basketball team in the country goes through scoring droughts and good teams have players like Christie to take them out of it.

It has been incredibly refreshing to watch this exciting Gophers team take the floor, no matter the result they have been a blast to watch and a major reason why is Cam Christie. If anyone said Minnesota would be tied for fourth place in the conference in February most people would’ve called them crazy. There is still a lot to shake out in the 2023-24 campaign, but Christie’s emergence is a major reason why the “fire Ben Johnson” crowd has been awfully quiet.