Is it too late to expect Markell Johnson to get going?

Among the oddities in what has been a surprisingly underwhelming year for Markell Johnson is his lackluster free throw shooting, which is currently at some vintage Shaquille O’Neal level. When inexplicable things like this happen, naturally I assume that one to several ancient curses are involved.

Here is a comparison of Markell this year vs. last year:

At some point a slow start becomes a crisis of confidence, and a seemingly inescapable rut. Maybe Markell needs one big game to snap out some pronounced shooting problems, or perhaps last year was more aberration than sign of progression.

His workload is up this season but that definitely can’t fully explain what we’ve seen from him on the court. I spent the early portion of the year assuming he’d get sorted but now it’s a lot more difficult to feel like that’s going to happen.

One thing’s for sure, though: NC State can’t reach its full potential without Markell Johnson playing good basketball. So let’s hope something changes for the better, and real soon.