STEVE CARPENTER - Hutchinson CC Sports InformationFormer Hutchinson Community College men's basketball All-American Darius Johnson-Odom was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2020 TBT Tournament on Tuesday night.Johnson-Odom led the Golden Eagles, a collection of Marquette University alumni, to a 78-73 victory over Sideline Cancer in the $1 million winner-take-all championship game played Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.The Golden Eagles went 4-0 in the tournament, which was limited to 24 teams instead of the usual 64 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.Johnson-Odom had 15 points on 6 of 12 shooting and three assists in the championship game. DJO averaged 16.8 points, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals in for tournament games.The Golden Eagles were the 2019 TBT runner-up.Back in the 2008-09 season, DJO's only season at Hutchinson, he became the sixth Blue Dragon in history to earn first-team NJCAA All-America honors. Johnson-Odom was also named first-team All-Jayhawk West and first-team All-Region VI. Johnson-Odom was also named 2009 Jayhawk West Freshman of the Year. Johnson-Odom also earned a spot on the 2009 Region VI Tournament All-Tournament team.Johnson-Odom put together one of the most impressive single seasons in 2008-09.He finished with 692 total points and a 21.6 point-per-game scoring average, which led Region VI and ranked 14th in the NJCAA. The 692 points was ninth most in HutchCC single-season history and second-most on the Blue Dragon freshman list. His scoring average ranked ninth in the single-season and third on the freshman list.Johnson-Odom shot 47.9 percent overall from the field, including 38.8 percent from 3-point range. He was a 77 percent free-throw shooter. Johnson-Odom averaged 5.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.5 blocked shots per game.Johnson-Odom set a freshman record for free throws (191).He had 22 games of 20 or more points, four of 30 or more points and a school-record 46 points against Coffeyville on Dec. 5, 2008 at the Jayhawk Shootout. In that game, he also established a single-game record with eight 3-point goals.After Hutchinson, Johnson-Odom spent three seasons at Marquette University, where he was a 2012 all-Big East first-team performer. DJO was then selected 55th overall in the 2012 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks, who immediately traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers. Johnson-Odom was assigned to the Lakers' D-League team, the Los Angeles D-Fenders, several times during 2012–13 season.Since that time, Johnson-Odom has signed contracts with the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves, but never played in a regular season contest for those franchises. DJO has been with G-League teams, the Springfield Armor and Iowa Wolves and has played internationally in Russia, China, Greece, Turkey and Italy.He is currently signed with an Italian team, Pallacanestro Reggiana.

Former Blue Dragon All-American named TBT Tourney MVP