Morez Johnson Jr. update from Illini coach Brad Underwood

Illini freshman standout, Morez Johnson Jr. suffered a broken wrist vs the Michigan State Spartans on February 15th. The freshman standout was coming into his own and starting games for the Illini, however, he came down on the floor after an insane block vs the Spartans. Johnson Jr. attempted to return to the game after suffering the injury, however, he was announced as out indefinitely shortly thereafter. Without Morez Johnson Jr. the Illini suffered blowout losses to Duke and Wisconsin.

On Monday, Brad Underwood hopped on the Fighting Illini athletics radio show to discuss a brief update.

Morez Johnson Jr. had his cast removed on Monday…Coach Underwood provided another injury update on the big fella #illini: pic.twitter.com/O72sfCRUn5

— 🆃ⓐ🅹🅷 ♕ (@Recru1t1ng_Guru) March 5, 2025

Impact?

Morez had a special cast made for him by a company called Cast21. A University of Illinois alum owns Cast21 and provides groundbreaking technology in a personalized cast to promote bone healing.. After using this cast and extensive recovery tools in the Ubben basketball center, Johnson Jr. had the cast removed on Monday.

The Illini play Purdue on Friday, March 7th. It would certainly be nice to have Morez Johnson Jr in the fold against Trey Kaufman-Renn who is averaging 19.4 ppg and 6.1 RPG. Friday would mark approximately three weeks since suffering the wrist injury. Since Johnson Jr. just started non-contact work and is now just able to make a fist, it is more likely that he will return next week for the Big Ten Tournament instead. As a true freshman, Johnson Jr. averages 7.2 ppg and 6.6 rebounds in 17.8 minutes per game.

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