COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - It's a skill Kyle Johnson picked up almost by necessity.

But the junior guard on the Saint John's University basketball team has become accomplished enough at cutting hair that a number of people on campus now trust him to be their stylist as well.

"When I was a senior (at DeLaSalle High School), I started buzzing my hair," he recalled. "My strength coach at the time was cutting it for me. But I knew he wasn't going to be there when I got to college, and barbershops were getting kind of expensive. So one day I asked him if he could teach me how to do it myself.

"I won't lie, the first couple of haircuts weren't very pretty. But eventually I got good enough that I started feeling comfortable doing it for other people – my younger brother Justin (a freshman on this season's SJU roster), (senior wing) Connor Schwob and a few other guys from school.

"You don't worry that much when you're doing your own hair," he continued. "But you don't want to mess up anyone else's. So there's a little pressure there."

Pressure, though, is not something that seems to phase Johnson, who has emerged as a clutch shooter off the bench over the course of his three seasons in Collegeville.

Never has that been more evident than this season when the 6-foot-2, 190-pounder has averaged 18.1 minutes per game and hit 47 3-pointers. That ranks him second on the team behind only senior starter Kooper Vaughn's 58.

"He can definitely shoot the 3, which helps a lot," said SJU head coach Pat McKenzie '04, whose team (22-3 overall) – the No. 2 seed in this week's MIAC tournament – plays host to No. 3 seed Hamline (17-9) in the semifinals at 7 p.m. tonight (Feb. 27) in Sexton Arena.

The winner of that matchup advances to meet the winner between No. 4 seed Carleton (17-9) and top-seeded Gustavus Adolphus (21-4) in the championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday on the home court of the high seed with the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs on the line.

"But just in general, he provides us with a spark when he comes off the bench," McKenzie continued. "We don't miss a step and so much of that comes down to his work ethic and his approach to things. He brings a lot of energy to everything he does."

Johnson – the only non-senior in SJU's regular nine-man rotation – appeared in 22 games as a freshman during the 2022-23 season, hitting 17 3-pointers. But he truly came into his own as a sophomore a year ago when he played in 25 of the Johnnies' 26 games, hit 36 3-pointers and averaged 7.3 points-per-contest.

"Everyone would like to be a starter, but I'm happy with the role I'm in," Johnson said. "It's like Pat always tells us, 'Work for the role you want and thrive in the one you have.' I want to make sure that when I come off the bench, our level of play doesn't fall off. That's my job and I'm grateful for all the minutes I'm getting."

Away from the court, Johnson – a College Sports Communicators Academic All-District and Academic All-MIAC pick last season – is majoring in psychology. But he hopes to one day pursue a career in the criminal justice field.

"I'm really interested in criminal profiling, and it felt like psychology would be a good start when it comes to understanding human behavior," he said.

"I don't have a ton of passions outside basketball, but growing up I always loved watching criminal shows on television. That's sort of what got me started in this direction."

It's a career he knows will require a good deal of interpersonal communication, which is one of the reasons he jumped at the chance to become the resident assistant (RA) on the third floor of Mary Hall – a position he's held the past two school years.

"That's actually the floor I lived on my freshman year as well," he said. "So I haven't moved around too much. My first year, the RA on the floor was a sophomore, and I got to know him pretty well. I started to see some of the benefits of it.

"I was a little introverted when I first got here, and I knew this was a job that would force me to put myself out there more and build those personal communication skills."

This year, the job has also meant supervising his younger brother, Justin, who lives on the floor in addition to joining his older sibling on the basketball team.

"I know it seems like I would have had a big influence (on Justin's decision to attend SJU), but I really tried to stay out of it as much as I could," Luke said. "He had a couple of other MIAC schools recruiting him, but Saint John's kind of swooped in at the end.

"Obviously, he was familiar with the school because he'd been coming up to watch me play. But I wanted to give him the space to make his own decision."

As the only member of the team seeing extensive minutes who will return next season, Johnson knows his role will change dramatically.

"Pat and I have talked about that," he said. "I know I'm going to have to be more vocal. Right now, I think I do a good job of leading by example. But I'm working on adding that vocal piece as well.

"At the same time, I don't want to sell the other guys short. We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores on this team who are really talented players, and they've been able to get a lot of work in during practice. They understand what we're trying to do. They've learned a lot and they're itching for the chance to show it during games."

Before that happens, though, the Johnnies have a mission to complete this season. A year ago, SJU won the MIAC regular-season title, but were knocked off by Hamline on a last-second shot in the semifinals and did not make the Division III tournament.

Now, the Pipers are back in Collegeville for another semifinal matchup.

"We've all been talking about how we wanted another shot at them," Johnson said. "What happened last year shook a lot of us to the core. We felt like we were capable of accomplishing some big things, but then our season was over just like that.

"We've had a year to think about that game, and we're definitely going to come out ready to play (tonight)."