Congratulations – LSU Tigers guard Flau’jae Johnson welcomes a new born baby

Flau’jae Johnson of LSU excels both on the basketball court and off it in the studio.

Louisiana’s Baton Rouge According to Flau’jae Johnson, the secret is straightforward: you have to put in the work if you want to be the greatest.

Those reps happen both on and off the court for Johnson, the outstanding sophomore for LSU who led the Tigers to victory in the Sweet 16 with 24 points.

The five-foot-nine guard for third-seeded LSU frequently spends an hour or more after practice collecting additional shots in Pete Maravich Assembly Hall.

And during her “off” hours—a hilarious term considering that Johnson could be the busiest person on the LSU campus—the well-known rapper with a record deal with Roc Nation will sit in her car and pen songs.

So, when exactly does Johnson find time to sleep?

“I actually sleep a lot,” she told USA TODAY Sports, laughing. “I go to sleep at like 8 p.m., and I’m up at 5 a.m. Usually I come from the gym, take a shower and just knock out. I put on my sleep music on YouTube and I’m out. I really like to sleep, always have. Even when I had friends over when I was little, I always wanted to go to sleep early.”

Really, she has no other choice. Her other hours are spent juggling classes, homework and commitments related to her myriad of NIL deals, which include partnerships with Puma, Powerade, Amazon and Experian, among others.

On Monday evening, Johnson − who averages 14.7 points and shoots 50.1% from the field for LSU − is likely to draw the task of guarding Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, the NCAA all-time scoring leader who’s trying to guide her team to its second consecutive Final Four. Johnson and the Tigers, meanwhile, are trying not only for a return trip to the national semifinals but, if they get their way, a repeat national championship.

And to think, multiple other schools could have had Johnson seriously entertain joining their programs if only they didn’t make her pick between her two favorite hobbies.

Most people have one superior skillset if they’re lucky. Johnson has two. She’d like to keep it that way.

“When I was getting recruited, a lot of teams kept asking me, ‘Which one do you wanna do?’ And I’d be like, ‘I wanna do both,’” she said. “And they wouldn’t understand me so I was like, I’ll just do music (and quit basketball). I was already making money, already buzzing. But then I found a place (LSU) that really understood my vision and just allowed me to be myself while playing the sport I love.”

And Johnson really does love it. That much is evident in the way she plays, and the joy she can’t contain. In LSU’s 78-69 win over UCLA in the Sweet 16, Tigers’ forward Angel Reese finished a tough and-one in the lane and Johnson celebrated on the perimeter with a jump kick that highlighted her athleticism. But her most impressive feat came when she skyed for a block against Bruins center Lauren Betts, grabbed the defensive rebound and smiled ear-to-ear as she led the break.

“As you watch Flau’jae play and you’re just a casual fan that has no allegiance to LSU, you watch her and go, wow, I like watching her perform,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey told reporters Sunday morning. “An example of that, the blocked shot: she giggled and grinned all the way down the floor. She was so proud that at 5-foot-9, she could get up there and block a 6-foot-7 young lady’s shot. She was just like ‘Wow, that’s a memory for me.’”

Johnson’s dream is to create more memories for herself and kids like her. She doesn’t plan to take up any more hobbies − she does crochet a bit − but does want to “get more into my entreprenueurial vibes.” She plans to start hosting basketball camps this summer for kids, mostly in the south (she’s a Savannah, Georgia, native) and stress to them that you don’t have to pick between passions.

Johnson started rapping at 7 as a way to honor the legacy of her late father Jason Johnson, the rapper known as Camoflauge, who was killed outside his recording studio shortly before Flau’jae was born in 2003. Music, she said “is an outlet, it’s part of me.” And right now, she likes that balancing both gives her a break from the other.