Morez Johnson Jr. has probably dreamt of hanging a banner in Illinois’ State Farm Center at least a few times in his life. But the Illinois native killed that dream on his own when he chose to leave Brad Underwood’s program last season.
Instead, Johnson had a storybook return to Champaign as part of the Big Ten Champion and No. 3 Michigan men’s basketball team. A story in which he was the villain in the eyes of many.
“I was expecting a lot of boos,” Johnson said. “I was making sure I ignored everything like I normally do, and come in here and play basketball, what I came here for.”
After clinching a share of the conference title earlier this week, Johnson and the Wolverines arrived in Illinois with the goal of clinching it outright — with the Illini being a team mathematically alive for a potential share.
“We know our brothers,” Johnson said. “Not pulling apart from the team. You know, in order to win, we need each other. We can’t do it by ourselves.”
Graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg didn’t shy away from what this game meant to Johnson and, by virtue, everyone on the team as well. Lendeborg took to the pregame shootaround in a ‘21’ jersey — with a clown cardboard cutout of Johnson staring him down from the student section.
“They didn’t have enough jerseys for the rest of the team, so I was the one to go get it upstairs,” Lendeborg quipped postgame.
None of those antics for or against Johnson really mattered after tipoff. On Michigan’s first possession, they let Johnson go one-on-one with forward David Mirkovic. The Illini have the rare size to not let teams bully them. Johnson did it anyway.
“I just did a good job with ignoring everything,” Johnson said. “… I know all that outside noise is like nonsense, literally, it doesn’t matter at all.”
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