This post has been updated to reflect KJ Johnson’s announcement on March 20 that he has signed with the North Alabama Lions as a transfer.
Lipscomb men’s basketball players KJ Johnson, Kaleb Coleman, and Tanner Shulman have put their names into the transfer portal, signaling their intent to play with a new school next season.
The entries come as transfer moves have increasingly become the standard in collegiate sports, especially at the Division I level. All three players are believed to be entering the portal in search of more playing time in their final two seasons.
Johnson, Coleman, and Shulman are all members of the 2019 recruiting class at Lipscomb, head coach Lennie Acuff’s first year at the helm. Johnson and Coleman were recruited by former head coach Casey Alexander before his hire at Belmont.
If the three do transfer out of the program, there will be no players in the eight-man recruiting class still playing for the Purple and Gold.
Johnson, a defense-first point guard from Lewisburg, is the first to decide on a new home, signing with ASUN Conference rivals North Alabama.
Johnson, who finished his third season with Lipscomb in March and has two years of eligibility left with the Lions, will now face the Bisons in conference play next season. North Alabama went 2-14 in the ASUN last season, the worst record in the conference, and exited the 2022 ASUN Tournament in the first round.
Johnson was one of three players to play in all 33 contests this season for the Bisons, averaging 6.7 points in 21.2 minutes per contest.
The Marshall County High School graduate started for Lipscomb immediately as a true freshman and averaged over 11 points per game in his first year, following that up with 13.5 points per contest and 52 assists in his true sophomore year.
This season, the 6’3″ guard again began the season in the starting lineup but saw reduced minutes and productivity, averaging just 8 points per game in the season’s first 11 games. After coming off the bench three times in non-conference play, Johnson returned to the starting lineup for the first seven games of the ASUN slate before being replaced by fellow guard Trae Benham, a true freshman.
Benham started the final 11 contests of the 2021-22 season and figures to start again next season. Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Will Pruitt took over the ballhandling duties for Lipscomb’s offense and proved capable at the point guard spot, making a starting role for Johnson at Lipscomb unlikely in 2022-23.
In a post on his Instagram account, Johnson stated the following in part: “After deep thought and discussion with my circle, I feel that it is best for me to enter the transfer portal… acknowledging my future ambitions and aspirations, this appears to be the best decision for me.”
Coleman, a sharpshooting power forward from Orlando, Florida, has been used more sparingly by Coach Acuff in his three years at Lipscomb.
Physically gifted at 6’7″ and 215 lbs, Coleman was a touted recruit out of the prestigious basketball program at Oak Ridge High School. He was ranked the #50 forward in the 2019 class by ESPN and rated as a 3-star recruit.
Coleman appeared in 21 games for the Bisons this season, averaging 8.3 minutes per contest. He scored 2.8 points per game, including three games with double figures, two of which came against Power Five opponents, and a career-high 13 against Kentucky Christian.
The forward has found minutes hard to come by in a Lipscomb lineup that tends to be guard-heavy and which also features bigs Parker Hazen and Ahsan Asadullah. Despite Hazen’s graduation and subsequent departure this offseason, Coleman will likely slide behind rising sophomore Jacob Ognacevic in the depth chart if he stays at Lipscomb next year, leaving him out of the starting five for yet another year.
Shulman, a third-year freshman from Chattanooga, redshirted in 2019 and was given another year of eligibility for the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 6’4″ shooting guard played in 29 games for the Bisons this year but scored just 1.4 points in 10.1 minutes per game. Last season, Shulman scored 2.5 points per game in 14 contests.
The loss of Johnson and expected losses of Coleman and Shulman to transfers are paired with the confirmed losses of Hazen and shooting guard Greg Jones to graduation.
Staying at Lipscomb, however, are three starters from the end of this season.
Pruitt, who started every game for Lipscomb and led the team in minutes; Benham, who scored more than 20 points three times in the last five games of the season; and center Ahsan Asadullah, who led the team in points, rebounds, assists, and blocks per game and was named to the All-ASUN First Team for the third straight year in 2021-22, will return for the Bisons.
Also returning as sophomores next season are point guard Quincy Clark, shooting guard Tommy Murr, small forward Jason Montgomery, power forward Ognacevic, and center Grant Asman.
Alongside them will be freshmen Gray Weaver, who redshirted this season, and incoming guards TJ Johnson and Rylan Houck. More incoming freshman signings or transfers could also be announced prior to signing day on May 1.
With the current lineup that remains for Lipscomb, the most likely starting lineup will consist of Pruitt at point guard, Benham at shooting guard, Murr in the small forward spot, Ognacevic at power forward, and the familiar face of Asadullah inside.
More updates will be provided as they develop. Be sure to check Lumination Network regularly for updates on men’s and women’s basketball updates as well as news across all sports on campus.
Photo by CJ Arndt