2 days Ago
To subscribe, click here. Sign up for our daily basketball newsletter here Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball at large: Morez Johnson Jr.
has made the most of his playing time through two games this season. The 6-foot-9 freshman forward is getting 15.5 minutes per game off the bench so far, and he's making an impact in that run.
Maybe not offensively with eight total points, but certainly with his defense and rebounding. Johnson had eight rebounds and one blocked shot Friday in Illinois' win against SIU Edwardsville. That came on the heels of his eight rebounds and six blocked shots Monday against Eastern Illinois.
"I thought Morez was terrific on the defensive end," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said after the EIU win. "Just his activity and his ability to spring off the floor. A lot of those were what we called late contests that he went and blocked.
When you can challenge people at the rim like he does, it’s different than (Tomislav Ivisic) because Tomi is more vertical just in terms of his body. They’re different, but it gives us a nice, diverse package. "We know (Johnson) can really jump.
I think it was great timing. It was a little bit them maybe not having a true post-up guy he had to be occupied with. The way we play in our drop coverage those options are going to be there.
He’s a bouncy kid." Underwood was just as effusive in praising Johnson after Friday night's win against SIUE. Especially for the way he communicated defensively.
"He got one of the best compliments from an NBA guy who had him on their board just because he thought he was the best communicator in the United States," Underwood said. "That's a big deal. People have no idea how important communication is.
Every play that Morez is involved in his guy is probably setting a ball screen, so he's got to talk. He's got to do it early. He's got to recognize it early.
It's a great attribute to have and just makes everybody's life easy when you do it.".
