Yemi Nicholson has company.

Denver sophomore guard Carson Johnson was named Summit League Player of the Year on Tuesday, becoming the second player in the program’s modern Division-I era (since 1998) to earn conference Player of the Year honors.

Johnson joins Nicholson, who was named Sun Belt Player of the Year in 2004-05 and also earned Associated Press All-American honors.

An Ankeny, Iowa, native, Johnson was named Summit League Newcomer of the Year and is part of the All-Summit League first team, while graduate student forward Jeremiah Burke was named honorable mention by the conference.

Johnson led the Summit League in scoring at 22.5 points per game in 16 conference matchups, over three points per game more than second place. On the season, he leads the Pioneers in scoring at over 20 points per game to go with a team-leading 94 assists and 85 3-pointers.

He has already become just the third DU player in the modern D-I era to eclipse 600 points in a single season and his 625 points are currently the second-most by a Pios player in a single-season, trailing only Tommy Bruner (816 in 2023-24).

Johnson came to the Mile High City after playing one year at Minnesota State-Moorhead in the Division-II ranks. He followed coach Tim Bergstraser to DU, along with three other teammates and associate head coach Spenser Bland.

The Pios are heading to Sioux Falls, S.D., this week for the Summit League tournament, where they are the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 seed North Dakota on Friday for a spot in the semifinals.

DU finished the regular season at 15-16 overall, already surpassing last year’s win total by four games, and with an 8-8 record in the Summit League, the program’s first .500-or-better record in conference play since 2017-18.