CHAMPAIGN — Will Riley made sure to interrupt a question about the Illinois men’s basketball team being back to full health heading into the Big Ten tournament with a quick, perhaps necessary, rejoinder given all that happened in January and February.

“Knock on wood,” the Illinois freshman said. “Knock on wood.”

Morez Johnson Jr. returning to practice Monday after three weeks sidelined because of a broken left wrist got the No. 24 and seventh-seeded Illini (20-11) to 100 percent participation as they began their postseason preparation ahead of Thursday night’s second-round Big Ten tournament game against 15th-seeded Iowa (17-15).

Illinois coach Brad Underwood had to really think about when his team was last at full strength. The easy recollection was when it started that the Illini were no longer healthy.

Illinois wasn’t experiencing any injury or illness issues when it won both of its games during their West Coast swing to restart Big Ten play the first week of January. But Kasparas Jakucionis was injured in the win against Washington — exacerbating a tendinitis issue in his left wrist/forearm — and a string of absences followed. Underwood’s best guess for the last practice he had with his entire team fully healthy before Monday was Jan. 13.

That mid-January practice ahead of Illinois’ trip to play at Indiana thread the needle between Jakucionis’ return and Tomislav Ivisic’s bout with strep throat that ultimately turned into mononucleosis. And that only scratched the surface on the series of injuries and illnesses that became part and parcel of Illinois’ season the past two months.

“It’s just been incredible because the energy is good,” Underwood said about his team’s full-strength practices this week. “It’s not where we’re sick and have guys that feel terrible. It’s back to we’ve got great energy again. That brings a smile to my face.

“You want to be playing your best — you want to have all your options — this time of year. I think we had 11 games with starters out in league play, so over half our games were played without our whole group. That’s unfortunate. I know we’re really, really good when we have them all. That doesn’t mean anything now. It means we’ve got to compete, we’ve got to play hard and we’ve got to be able to utilize all those guys.”

The Illinois players could tell a difference in practice this week. Whether it was injuries like Jakucionis’ arm or Ivisic’s ankle or Johnson’s wrist or the various flu bugs that ripped through the team, limited-participation practices just didn’t feel right.

“It looks better,” Jakucionis said. “Before, it looked like someone is missing, something is missing, on the team. ... The most important part of the season is starting now. I’m happy that we are all healthy and we are all ready to go.”

Johnson’s return from the broken wrist he suffered Feb. 15 against Michigan was the last piece. How much the 6-foot-9 forward will play this week in the Big Ten tournament is still to be determined.

Johnson won’t be thrust immediately back into the starting lineup, but Underwood made it clear the abilities and skill set the freshman big man brings to the floor will be needed at some juncture this month, either in the Big Ten or NCAA tournament.

“We all have to understand he hasn’t played in a month,” Underwood said. “There’s some limitations. He’s been great in practice. He’s impacted practice a great deal. I know his rebounding and defense will be needed at some point throughout the postseason.”

Johnson won’t be on a minutes restriction this week at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Any restriction will come from his conditioning level. Johnson did some conditioning before he fully returned to practice, but getting back to game shape is still a work in progress.

“He’s been working really hard at the conditioning piece,” Underwood said. “We did a lot of up and down early in the week, and he needed oxygen. He’ll be back, and he’ll be fine. The good thing about postseason is long media timeouts, so you get a chance to really catch your breath.”

Johnson started the eight games before his hard fall against Michigan State. He averaged 9.9 points and 6.3 rebounds in that stretch, shot 69 percent from the field and blocked 10 shots in those eight games. The 10th, of course, being the one that precipitated his fall and broken wrist.

That’s the kind of production — generated by nonstop effort — Johnson’s teammates are ecstatic to get back on the court.

“It’s going to put a lot of stress off Tomi, for sure,” Riley said.

“I’m very happy for him and happy for the team,” Jakucionis added. “He gives us a lot — a lot of energy on the defensive side and offensive side. Rebounds. Dunking the basketball. He just gets us going.”

Scott Richey covers college basketball for The News-Gazette. His email is , and you can follow him on Twitter ( @srrichey ).