Illinois beats Northwestern 83-74 to even season series

CHAMPAIGN — As the Chicago Sun-Times’ high school boys player of the year last season, Thornton’s Morez Johnson Jr. usually took what he wanted on the court, using his powerhouse 6-9 frame to get where he needed to go.

Johnson, an Illinois freshman, is living a much bigger basketball life nowadays. And early in the 17th-ranked Illini’s 83-74 win Sunday against Northwestern, there was only one place he needed to go.

Get down on the floor and get after that loose ball, big fella.

It’s the kind of thing Johnson did often in a tone-setting start in place of 7-footer Tomislav Ivisic, a tremendous player who’s out indefinitely with mono. The struggling Illini needed to turn things in a better direction, and Johnson put 15 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and all kinds of juice on display to ensure it happened.

“I thought Morez Johnson was absolutely fantastic,” coach Brad Underwood said.

There are standouts on this team, none with a rep as golden as that of Lithuanian freshman point guard Kasparas Jakucionis, a likely NBA lottery pick. But Johnson is a player capable of embodying Underwood’s most sacred ideals — “playing hard, playing with an edge,” the coach put it this time. No one sees it more clearly than the star known around these parts as “KJ.”

“We don’t only need Tom,” Jakucionis said. “We need Morez, too. He’s an amazing player.”

Northwestern (12-8, 3-6 Big Ten) would just as soon play all its games against Illinois (14-6, 6-4) up in Evanston, where the Wildcats have beaten the Illini three seasons in a row. The rivalry games have been ever so different down here, where "Chicago's Big Ten team" has been fully owned. A completely one-sided game until the final five minutes — during which the Wildcats went on a somewhat meaningless 21-7 spurt, making their last eight shots — was Illinois’ ninth straight win in the series at State Farm Center. Northwestern hasn't won here since 2013 or swept a season series since 1966.

“I was proud of our fight,” Wildcats coach Chris Collins said. “We’re going to keep playing until the final buzzer. That’s who we are.”

But their chances of reaching a third straight NCAA Tournament are slipping away. The Wildcats came in playing well, having beaten Maryland and Indiana at home, with an overtime loss at Michigan sandwiched in between, over their last three games. But they also came in with a far-from-ideal NET ranking of 49, which is a real problem given the team's record. There’s time to build the résumé, but a mad March is a total long shot.

The Illini, on the other hand, might drop in the next AP Top 25, but their NET ranking — 10th before Sunday — sets them up wonderfully going forward.

Jakucionis has missed multiple games with an arm injury. Ivisic now has missed the last two, the first of those being a brutal 21-point home loss to Maryland. In that game — the Illini’s third loss in four outings — Terrapins big men Derik Queen and Julian Reese (Angel’s little brother) destroyed everything in their paths. But Northwestern doesn’t have anything like that in its frontcourt, and Johnson and the Illini took full advantage in blasting out to leads of 17-5, 32-11 and 43-21 at the half.

Ivisic’s status is up in the air. Underwood said he has seen players with mono miss anywhere from two weeks to two months.

But Underwood, who said heading into the season this team might have a “higher ceiling” than last season’s Elite Eight squad, still is talking big.

“I’m more bullish than I’ve ever been,” he said. “I’m not afraid to say it: We can be Final Four good. But we need to be whole to do that. We’ve played half a conference season without guys.”

Kylan Boswell scored 17 for the Illini, who play next at Nebraska. Jakucionis packed the stats sheet, as usual, with 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Nick Martinelli and Jalen Leach led the Wildcats, who host Rutgers next, with 17 points apiece.