No. 24 Illinois’ (20-11, 12-8) freshman forward Morez Johnson Jr. is expected to make his return from a broken wrist at the Big Ten tournament on Thursday, announced by the program via a video on social media Monday evening.
The video showcased footage of some work done to Johnson’s arm during the recovery process. Johnson was originally in a standard cast after breaking his left wrist during a hard fall on Feb. 15.
Eventually, the cast was switched to an alternative design brought to team doctors by University alumni. It allowed for easier access to Johnson’s arm for accelerated healing.
“We’ve got very proud alums who are all over, not just the state but the world,” said head coach Brad Underwood. “Basketball’s important; they’re big basketball fans. They reached out to me in an email. I forwarded it on to our medical team. He was just in a standard cast before, and this one really looks kind of like a net. It’s an orange net that is a cast; it’s very firm, but it’s got the holes in it where all the bone stimulation is stuff that he can get to. It fits him very, very well.”
The treatment worked faster than expected, as the cast was recently removed, and the medical staff has seemingly cleared the Chicago native to return to play. There has been no communication yet on whether or not Johnson will be on a minutes restriction.
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Johnson’s return could not have come at a better time. The Illini are on a hot streak, having won their last three games, including two ranked wins. They reentered the top-25 AP poll on Monday after those wins, coming in at No. 24.
Having the team’s best rim protector and most energetic rebounder back will be a major lift to the Illini’s physicality and toughness. Johnson averaged 7.2 points and 6.6 rebounds in 17.7 minutes per game this season, and he started to see a bigger role before getting hurt. He was moved into the starting lineup eight games before sustaining the injury.
Next up is the Big Ten tournament, where the Illini are the No. 7 seed. If Illinois wins its first-round game on Thursday, a matchup with No. 11 Maryland (24-7, 14-6), the No. 2 seed, will be next up on Friday. The Terrapins, led by star freshman center Derik Queen and senior forward Julian Reese, bullied the Illini earlier this season, winning by 21.
However, Illinois was missing 7-foot-1 sophomore center Tomislav Ivišić. Now, Illinois’ frontcourt will be back at full strength for a potential matchup with a very tough opponent in the paint.
Illinois will still need to get past the winner of Iowa (16-15, 7-13) and Ohio State (17-14, 9-11) before it can play Maryland again. It should be a good opportunity for Johnson to readjust to a full game and see where his conditioning is at.
The Illini’s postseason begins on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
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