Brad Underwood is trying to guide the Illinois basketball program through more turmoil than I thought there would be during the 2024-25 campaign.
Coming into the season, I figured there would be chemistry issues with the Illini. We lost all but two players from the Elite 8 squad, and one of the two players decided to take a redshirt.
Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn ended up being the only player from last season’s squad to get minutes in 2024-25. Naturally, a team that only has one player coming back should struggle with chemistry. That has not been the biggest issue with Illinois. In fact, I think it has been pretty impressive what Underwood has done with the Illini chemistry.
Illinois, when healthy, has been playing well together. We hit the ground running and look like a team that has played years together. When healthy are the keywords, though. Those are two words that have plagued the Orange and Blue this season.
In the last six games, Illinois has had a healthy lineup in exactly one contest. We were fully loaded against Indiana, and that game resulted in the Illini taking down the Hoosiers by 25 points, 94-69.
Star freshman point guard Kasparas Jakucionis missed multiple games with a left arm injury that is still bothering him today. Following the Jakucionis injury, star big man Tomislav Ivisic was diagnosed with mono. He played in the Michigan State game with the illness, and he hasn’t played since.
Missing Ivisic enabled Illinois to unleash one of the most unknown but biggest weapons we have in the arsenal. High-four-star talent, Morez Johnson Jr. is finally getting his shine, and he is taking advantage of the minutes.
Morez Johnson Jr. is on pace to crack the Illinois basketball record book
Illinois basketball has had some impressive big men over the years. From Efrem Winters to Deon Thomas to Kofi Cockburn and everyone in between. The size for the Illini has made an impact in the paint.
While all of the big men have made an impact on the program, Illinois might have the best of the rebounders on the roster this season. At a bare minimum, we have a generational rebounder crashing the glass every night.
I am not talking about Illinois’ starting center, though. Tomislav Ivisic is talented, but as far as rebounding goes, Morez Johnson Jr. takes the cake.
Johnson is currently averaging 6.6 rebounds per game as a true freshman. That number alone is impressive. If he finishes at that number, he would finish No. 4 in single-season rebounding among freshmen for the program.
Through 20 games, Johnson has 132 rebounds. He is projected to finish with 204 rebounds in the regular season. That would be good enough to finish No. 4 in total rebounds for a freshman in a season.
While it may look like Johnson is just a solid rebounding freshman, there is a number that jumps off the page.
Johnson is only getting 16.2 minutes per game.
In the freshmen record book, only Kofi Cockburn in 2020-21, Efrem Winters in 1983-84, and Deon Thomas in 1991-92 are ahead of Johnson at this point. In those freshman campaigns, Kofi averaged 27.4 minutes, Winters averaged 31.5 minutes, and Thomas averaged 31.1 minutes.
Let that soak in for a second. Johnson is averaging 6.6 rebounds in 16.2 minutes. Kofi averaged 8.8 rebounds in 27.4 minutes, Winters averaged 6.9 rebounds in 31.5 minutes, and Thomas averaged 6.8 rebounds in 31.1 minutes.
Illinois fans got to see what Johnson could do with at least 30 minutes in a game against Northwestern on Sunday. The talented freshman pulled down nine rebounds. In the five games this season when Johnson has received at least 20 minutes, he has averaged 9.4 rebounds per game.
Morez Johnson Jr.’s impact on the current Illinois basketball squad has been massive
Missing Tomislav Ivisic has hurt Illinois in many ways. He stretches the floor and can make three-pointers at a rate I haven’t seen a big man convert in program history.
Johnson has done a great job filling in for Ivisic, and honestly, he has done a great job being a spark plug off the bench for the Illini the entire season.
The ability of Johnson to be a magnet for the basketball is incredible. He is undersized for the position at 6-foot-9, but he can rebound the basketball like he is Yao Ming. You can watch his great rebounding ability, but his numbers also bear out how great this kid has been on the court.
When it comes to minutes this season, Johnson has logged 324 minutes, which ranks No. 8 on the roster. He has received 104 fewer minutes than Will Riley, 227 fewer than Ben Humrichous, and 276 fewer than Kylan Boswell.
Despite the lack of minutes, Johnson is still second on the team with 132 rebounds. He only has 21 fewer rebounds than Ivisic, who has played 151 more minutes this season. On top of that, Johnson leads Illinois with 50 offensive rebounds this season. That is 14 more offensive rebounds than Ivisic as well.
Johnson’s 2.5 offensive rebounds per game is an impressive number. Not only does he lead Illinois in offensive rebounding, but he has been one of the most prolific offensive rebounders in the last 20 seasons.
In the last 20 seasons, only two players, Kofi Cockburn and Shaun Pruitt, have averaged more offensive rebounds in a season. Kofi averaged over 2.5 offensive rebounds per game in three seasons, but he also averaged over 27 minutes per game each season. Pruitt averaged more than 2.5 offensive rebounds in two seasons and in both years he averaged over 26 minutes per game.
I hope that Johnson comes back to Illinois for another season. I am going on record and saying this kid is a generational rebounder and talent for the program. If he gets a chance to start for a season, he is going to write his name in permanent ink on so many records for the Illinois basketball program. He is an important piece to the current squad, and he will be crucial to the success of the Illini moving forward.