No. 17 Illinois freshman Morez Johnson Jr. steps up to fuel 83-74 win over Northwestern

[ad_1]

CHAMPAIGN — When No. 17 Illinois men’s basketball coach Brad Underwood considered how “bullish” he is on his team Sunday at State Farm Center, he didn’t play down his expectations.

“I’m not afraid to say it — we can be Final Four good,” Underwood said. “But we need to be whole to do that. And we played half a conference season without guys.”

The Illini were not whole Sunday in their rematch with Northwestern, playing their second straight game without 7-foot-1 center Tomislav Ivišić, who has mononucleosis. And yet they jumped on the Wildcats early, led by 22 points at halftime and went out with an 83-74 win, thanks in part to the play of freshman forward Morez Johnson Jr.

Johnson, the 2024 Illinois Mr. Basketball from Thornton, received his second career start in place of Ivišić and finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Underwood didn’t think Johnson played great in his first start in Illinois’ 21-point loss to Maryland — when the Illini sorely missed Ivišić — and the coach said he enjoyed challenging him in the last week.

“He’s super competitive and he’s got a fire that burns,” Underwood said. “It was just getting it out of him, and it’s great to see.”

Underwood opened the game by having the 6-foot-9 Johnson defend Wildcats forward Nick Martinelli, who entered Sunday averaging 19.9 points per game. The Illini planned to give Martinelli room to shoot 3s but wanted to limit him inside. The plan worked. Martinelli had six first-half points on 2-for-11 shooting. He finished with 17 points.

“Mo can really move his feet,” Underwood said. “He’s 255 pounds. He jumps to touch the top of the backboard. But he’s got great lateral quickness, and one on one, I don’t know if there’s many guys in our gym that want to see him in front of them. I mean, he can really, really guard.

“So it’s always been there. It’s just learning the energy, the controlling it. It’s what makes him really special is his…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/no-17-illinois-freshman-morez-012300779.html

Author : Chicago Tribune

Publish date : 2025-01-27 01:23:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.