Wow, that was a disappointing finish for the Illinois basketball team on Friday night.

The Illini came into the contest 6-1 and had just beaten a top-25 Arkansas program on Thanksgiving. This was supposed to be a game that got us to seven wins, but Northwestern had other plans.

The Wildcats are a well-coached team. Defensively, they knew their assignments and had great communication. It also helped the Wildcats that they had a couple of players have big nights.

Three Northwestern players went for at least 16 points, led by walking bucket Nick Martinelli who dropped a game-high 27 points. The combination of Northwestern’s defense and Illinois taking bad shots led to a disappointing 70-66 loss to the Wildcats in overtime.

There were quite a few times that Illinois looked like an unstoppable team against Northwestern. We were playing at a high level and would go on little runs that teased the fanbase to put this game away potentially.

Those runs were fun because Illinois was playing great on both ends of the court. A big reason for the great play on both ends was Morez Johnson Jr.

Johnson is a smart player who understands his role on the court. He is a slightly undersized big man who has a great wingspan, sets screens, gobbles up rebounds, and finishes at the rim. He isn’t going to step out and shoot from three-point range, and he doesn’t command the ball.

With that being said, Johnson’s presence on the court affects the game so much. He only logged 12 minutes against Northwestern and still put up six points, five rebounds, and one assist while shooting 3-of-4 from the field.

Northwestern’s big man Matthew Nicholson finished the game playing 26 minutes and had three points, nine rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block. Most of those numbers came with Johnson off the court.

When Johnson was on the court with Nicholson, which consisted of six minutes and 55 seconds, he had just one rebound, one assist, and one turnover.

Johnson’s impact is greater than what he is given credit for. The fact he is only playing 12 minutes in the game is not right. He should be getting more time. Even when you look at the advanced metrics, Johnson’s box plus-minus against Northwestern was 16.6. That means with Johnson on the court, Illinois was beating the Wildcats by 16.6 points. Play the kid more.