Every March Madness needs a Cinderella story. In 2026, it is sixth-year High Point guard Chase Johnston, who just sent Wisconsin home in the first round.
Despite averaging just 6.1 points per game, college basketball fans immediately identified the High Point sharpshooter as the next NCAA Tournament darling. Fans quickly fell in love with Johnston's ridiculous three-point attempt rate, with all but four of his 136 field goal attempts in the regular season coming from behind the arc.
Johnston's unique stat line reminded everyone of Oakland legend Jack Gohlke, who memorably led the Grizzlies to a first-round upset win over Kentucky by hitting 10 three-pointers off the bench.
Johnston had his Gohlke-like moments in the win, but it was not a three-pointer that gave High Point the victory. Instead, the Boca Raton native chose to make his first two-point basket of the year under the brightest lights to give his team a one-point lead with 11 seconds remaining.
FIRST 2-POINTER OF THE YEAR FOR CHASE JOHNSTON 😱
HIGH POINT LEADS!!! pic.twitter.com/N2ZWYSb9Dz
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 19, 2026
The layup allowed High Point to become the first double-digit seed to advance to the Round of 32. Johnston is the star of the night, which has been a long time coming for him.
Chase Johnston's road to High Point
Fans now know Johnston as the face of High Point, even if he is the team's eighth-leading scorer on the year. Yet, the veteran sniper has only spent two of his six years in college with the Panthers.
Despite setting a national record with 546 three-pointers in his high school career, Johnston was a zero-star recruit in the class of 2019. Subpar athleticism and defense did not pair well with his limited offensive game, forcing Johnston to begin his college basketball career at Purdue Fort Wayne.
However, he never suited up for the Mastodons and transferred to Stetson after one semester. It took a year, but once Johnston made his college basketball debut, he hit the ground running with the Hatters, claiming the 2021 ASUN Freshman of the Year award after averaging 13.5 points per game in his inaugural season.
Johnston spent two years at Stetson before transferring to Florida Gulf Coast ahead of the 2022-2023 season. He settled into a sixth-man role in his first season with the Eagles before emerging as a starter the following year, only to suffer a season-ending injury just nine games into the 2023-2024 campaign. Johnston received a medical waiver and entered the transfer portal at the end of the season.
Johnston's third and final transfer allowed him to end his collegiate career at High Point, where he fully embraced his role as a three-point specialist. The 26-year-old has always been a marksman, but after only attempting 30 two-pointers in 2024-2025, he has lowered that number to five in 2025-2026. It just so happens that one of them happened to be one of the best plays of the year.
Gohlke was famously quoted as saying he knew he would never play in the NBA before signing a Summer League and G League contract after torching Kentucky. Johnston is putting himself in that same conversation after lighting up Wisconsin.
