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VCU’s Melvin Johnson ‘doubtful’ for tournament opener

VCU v George Washington

during the Semifinals of the 2014 Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 15, 2014 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Mike Lawrie

On Tuesday, VCU announced that sophomore shooting guard Melvin Johnson is “doubtful” in the team’s Round of 64 games against No. 12 Stephen F. Austin.

The official diagnosis: a sprained knee.

Johnson suffered the injury against George Washington in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament and, given the amount of pain that he was in and how ugly the injury looked, the initial reaction was that it could be quite serious.

Johnson averaged 10.5 points off the bench, but the bigger issue is that VCU will lose his three-point shooting. VCU struggles to score in the half court largely because they lack perimeter shooting. Johnson, who hit 39.5% of his triples this season, was their most dangerous deep threat.

It’s unclear how long Johnson will be out. “We’ll know more on Thursday,” head coach Shaka Smart told CBSSports.com.