Sandburg’s Will Johnson didn’t have to think about the location of the pass or even the sender.
The junior forward has a preternatural bond with his identical twin brother, Jonah, that pays off on the court for the Eagles. And it’s something they have been working toward for a long time.
“We’ve been wanting this for a while,” Will said. “Playing together is so easy. I just know to always look for him. I know he’s going to capitalize on the opportunity, and I’ll do the same for him.”
Same as it ever was.
The Johnson twins combined for 31 points and 14 rebounds Monday for Sandburg in a 72-59 loss to Hoffman Estates in the championship game of the Maine East Holiday Tournament.
Will Johnson tallied 17 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots for the Eagles (8-6). Jonah, who also plays forward, added 14 points, six rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.
Senior guard Connor Gleason chipped in with eight points for Sandburg.
In the third quarter, the Johnson twins combined for 18 of the Eagles’ 20 points. Sandburg cut a 15-point deficit to four before Hoffman Estates pulled away late.
Will Johnson is one minute older than Jonah. The 6-foot-2 twins are mirror images of each other.
“We expect more of each other since we know how hard we work,” Jonah said. “We keep pushing ourselves to do even more out there and find out what we’re capable of doing.”
The twins are the youngest of five siblings. Their father, also named Will, played basketball at Western Michigan. Older sister Ariel, a senior, is a manager for Sandburg’s boys basketball team.
“When they were little, they were always close together and they liked being around each other,” Ariel said. “They were optimistic, heartwarming and soft-hearted.
“Now, they’re different. It’s like the saying of iron sharpening iron. They’re both really strong-willed, and they’re very passionate about what they do.”
In their first season on the varsity, the twins have shown substantial growth. The hardest part for Sandburg coach John Daniels is distinguishing between them.
In practice, he uses their different types of shoes to tell them apart.
“They’re progressing and learning,” Daniels said. “They’re growing into their bodies, so they’re becoming more athletic. They have a competitive spirit. They want to get after it.
“They also have to learn how to harness it. They have a tremendous fire.”
The literature of identical twins is vast, exploring the nature of personality and identity. One part that’s inescapable is the brothers taking comfort from their individual success.
It passes easily from one to the other like a baton on a relay team.
“When we’re both playing well, we just feed off each other,” Jonah said. “When I saw him attacking the basket during that third-quarter run, that just made me keep going and doing what I did.
“He can shoot the three or get to the basket, and I can do the same thing.”
Their sensibility and outlook are similar. The underlying points of identity allow a shared sense of belonging.
“It depends who we are with, but our personalities are technically the same,” Will said. “We’re both outgoing with the right people. Him being there allows me to be more comfortable with people.”
Daniels said the twins are their own hardest critics, with high personal demands. Ariel said her brothers never relent or give in to the other. That drive manifests in multiple ways.
”They like to go head-to-head, and when they do that, they go 100%,” Ariel said. “When they first started playing, they’d go to the rec center and play one-on-one, and they trash talk each other.
“It made them who they are today and let them play even harder.”
Patrick Z. McGavin is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
