usatsi-28539140.jpg
Imagn Images

Anyone can be a hero in March -- even a seventh-year senior 3-point specialist on his fourth school. Chase Johnston just became a household name by helping No. 12 seed High Point stun No. 5 seed Wisconsin, 83-83, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Even before reaching folk hero status, Johnston was already pretty noticeable on the court. Not many basketball players choose No. 99 as their jersey number. It was actually a pretty fitting choice on Thursday, because while Johnston isn't "The Great One," he was great in the second half.

The first sign that a special March Madness performance was brewing came when Johnston pulled up from the logo with High Point down by eight and under five minutes remaining.

Over those final five minutes, Johnston nearly matched Wisconsin on his own with 11 points to the Badgers' 12. Johnston sealed the upset with a game-winning layup -- his first two-point basket of the season -- as the clock ticked down to 11.2 seconds.

Stories like Johnston's are what make March so special, so let's look at the scenic route he took from obscurity to NCAA Tournament star.

Johnston's long and winding journey

At the age 26, Johnston is older than Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, and he is very well-traveled. In 2019, Johnston began his college career by enrolling at Purdue Fort Wayne, but his stint as a Mastodon didn't last long. Johnston went to four different schools over five years before landing at High Point.

  • 2019-20: PFW for a semester, mid-year transfer to Stetson (redshirt)
  • 2020-21: Stetson (COVID year)
  • 2021-22: Stetson (redshirt freshman)
  • 2022-23: FGCU (redshirt sophomore)
  • 2023-24: FGCU (injury redshirt)
  • 2024-25: High Point (redshirt junior)
  • 2025-26: High Point (redshirt senior)

On his road to becoming a Panther, Johnston had some very productive seasons. After averaging 13.5 points per game with Stetson in 2020-21, he earned first-team All-Atlantic Sun All-Freshman honors and was named Atlantic Sun Rookie of the Year. The next season, in 2021-22, Johnston earned second-team All-Atlantic Sun honors.

Following his transfer to FGCU, Johnston averaged 19.7 points per game over 31 games in 2022-23. An injury limited Johnston to just nine games in the 2023-24 season, and he transferred to High Point after that.

Johnston was part of the Panthers' NCAA Tournament team last season, but he notched just three points in the team's opening-round loss to Purdue.

Johnston the 3-point sharpshooter

Prior to his transfer to High Point, it wasn't uncommon to see Johnston putting up shots from within the arc. From 2020-24, Johnston averaged no fewer than 3.4 two-point attempts per game.

That all changed when Johnston joined the Panthers. Last season, Johnston attempted just 0.9 two-point shots per game. Minuscule as the number may be, it looks astronomical when compared to his 0.1 two-point attempts per game in 2025-26.

In all fairness, keeping Johnston behind the 3-point line isn't a bad idea. He does have 415 3-point makes in his career, which is one more than Steph Curry made at Davidson, albeit in 61 more games.

Throughout his career, Johnston has shot 39.8% from the 3-point line, but that number has risen to 45.2% since his transfer to High Point.

Coming into Thursday, Johnston was just 0-for-4 from within the two-point range. As it turned out, he was just saving his first make for the biggest moment of the season.

Johnston's first two-point bucket off the season gave the Panthers their first March Madness win in program history, and it came against Wisconsin, which has an undergrad enrollment roughly eight times bigger than High Point's 5,135.