Over the last couple of weeks, the Illinois basketball fanbase has been hit with a few right hooks when it comes to the transfer portal.
The Illini lost players like Tre White and Carey Booth, but these two don’t even come close to comparing to the brutal blow that Morez Johnson Jr. gave the program. His departure into the transfer portal was a gut punch of mass proportions.
To sprinkle a little more hurt on the situation, Johnson announced that he was committing to Michigan in the past week. That is an insult to injury if I have ever seen it.
Brad Underwood has been fighting back against the transfer portal, though. Illinois has pledges from Ty Rodgers, Kylan Boswell, and Jake Davis to return to the team next season. On Saturday, we also got the pledge of Tomislav Ivisic to come back for one more run.
All four of these returning players are huge for the program. Underwood wasn’t nearly finished, though. He also hit another home run on Saturday by getting the transfer portal commitment of Tomislav’s brother, Zvonimir Ivisic.
Ivisic is coming into the Illinois program for his junior year after spending his first two seasons with Kentucky and Arkansas. The 7-foot-2, 245-pound Croatian has put up pretty solid numbers in two seasons of college ball, and I believe Illinois is getting a special talent.
Zvonimir Ivisic will not only replace Morez Johnson Jr., but Illinois basketball will also hit the upgrade button with this addition
Without a doubt, Johnson is going to be missed by the Illinois basketball program. From day one, he was a fan favorite with many. But, to me, that is wearing off quickly. Seeing Johnson posting positive Michigan messages is healing that wound awfully quickly.
Taking the emotions out of the Johnson departure, at the end of the day, I think Illinois not only replaced him well with Ivisic, but I believe this program improved by swapping Johnson for Ivisic.
If Johnson was still in the building, Illinois isn’t getting Ivisic. I would have a hard time seeing all three big men in the same frontcourt. Ivisic has put up better numbers, and on top of that, he is only a year older than Johnson. Both players averaged around the same minutes, as Ivisic put in 19.1 minutes per game and Johnson was at 17.7 minutes per game last season, too.
Let’s first look at the negatives. What does Johnson do better than Ivisic? Honestly, you are looking at pretty much just offensive rebounding and field goal percentage. Rebounding is a huge bonus for Johnson, as he averaged 2.7 offensive rebounds per game compared to Ivisic, who averaged 0.8 offensive rebounds per contest. This was the difference between their rebounding totals. Johnson averaged 6.7 rebounds per game while Ivisic averaged 4.3 rebounds per game.
Johnson has Ivisic in field goal percentage, too. He was at 64.2% from the field while Ivisic was at 47.3%. A big reason for this was the development of Ivisic’s outside shot. If he stayed around the basket, Ivisic’s field goal shooting would be much higher.
So, Johnson has Ivisic by a couple of rebounds. Let’s now take a look at the positives from adding Ivisic.
In the scoring department, there are a ton of pluses for Ivisic. He averaged 8.5 points compared to Johnson’s 7.0 points. Ivisic has an outside shot, as he hit 37.6% from three-point range. Johnson was never going to develop a three-point shot. Ivisic made 72.4% from the free throw line last season while Johnson hit just 61.8% from the charity stripe.
Illinois will get at least the same defensive prowess as Johnson next season. Ivisic averaged 1.9 blocks per game with Arkansas while Johnson averaged 1.1 blocks per game. Ivisic also had a defensive box plus-minus of 5.4 this past season, while Johnson’s was 3.7.
From a schematics standpoint, it is going to be much harder to gameplan for Ivisic, especially with the two brothers teaming up. Ivisic can play inside, but he can also stretch the floor and create space. This is going to help the Illinois offense tremendously. With Johnson, the Illini were relegated to using him to screen and roll on the perimeter. The defense didn’t have to worry about him, so they could sag off and double cover.
I believe Illinois took a big blow when Johnson hit the transfer portal. Underwood responded well with the addition of Ivisic. This was a big-time get for the Illini, and we just upgraded at the No. 5 spot for next season.