Really, Johnson doesn’t mean to sound ungrateful. It’s just that the tangible reward that goes along with going over 1,000 career points is, well, unflattering in Johnson’s eyes.

Johnson scored 24 points Tuesday night as the Jayhawks rallied past No. 24 Illinois, 73-60, at Allen Fieldhouse, giving Johnson KU’s 6-foot-1 senior forward 1,005 career points.

In keeping with tradition, her visage will be silk-screened on commemorative T-shirts to be distributed to the whole team and sold at concession stands.

“I feel special to be in such elite company at the University of Kansas,” Johnson said after becoming the club’s 15th member. “But it’s an embarrassing T-shirt. It says, ‘1,000,’ with my ol’ big face in the last zero. I’m sure they’ll pick my worst picture.”

Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo

While Johnson’s accomplishment certainly was noteworthy, it was the Jayhawks’ stifling defense that won it Tuesday.

If the Illini, who endured a 21-hour trip Sunday and Monday to make it to Lawrence from Maui, Hawaii, were leg-weary, it didn’t show early. Illinois (2-2) hit 58.1 percent of its first-half shots, led by as many as 10 and settled for a 38-32 halftime lead.

The Illini stretched the lead to nine, at 41-32, less than a minute into the second half.

Then Kansas (4-1) turned up the heat, holding Illinois without a field goal for a full 10 minutes.

“They really ran out of gas,” said Johnson, who hit eight of 13 shots, eight of 10 free throws and collected two assists and five steals. “They didn’t have the legs to get their shots up, and we were contesting their shots. That happens. Teams have to go through that. We were coming off a road trip, too. It wasn’t Hawaii, but we just got back, too.”

After the scorching start, Illinois hit just 24 percent of its field goals after the break, while Kansas hit 66.7 percent.

“Wow, what a win,” KU coach Marian Washington said. “We played a great club tonight, but I can’t say enough about our club. They just did a great job staying in the game, and our defense really got us back in the game.”

The Jayhawks went into it nearly blind. When Washington received her scouting tapes in a film exchange, she was surprised to see nothing.

“I’m not going to name the school, but we got this express package and I took it home and there was nothing on it,” Washington said. “It was just fuzz. Fortunately, I heard the Illinois-Tennessee game was going to be on television, on the Oxygen Station, and I set the VCR. I only got half the game the second half. They were down so much, I didn’t really get much from it.”

Washington also went into the game unsure of her team’s health. Point guard Jennifer Jackson, who sported a shiner under her right eye after colliding with a Louisiana-Monroe player Sunday, was medically cleared to play just six hours before tipoff. Center Nikki White, who suffered a broken nose during a shoot-around last Saturday, wasn’t cleared to play.

“It wasn’t a surprise to me,” said Jackson, who finished with 11 points, three assists and a turnover. “I made it clear to Dr. (Larry) Magee I was going to play. I told him it didn’t matter what I couldn’t do yesterday, but I was going to play today.”

After two straight games in which the bench outscored the starters, the Jayhawk starters led the way Tuesday. KC Hilgenkamp and Brooke Reves each added 11 points, and Kristin Geoffroy added 10. Hilgenkamp also contributed nine assists.

“This was big,” Jackson said. “Anytime you bring a ranked opponent onto your court, a team that beat you last year it was a game we really wanted. We wanted to get off on the right foot at home.”

KU will play host to Eastern Illinois in a first-round KU Credit Union Jayhawk Classic game on Friday. Tipoff is 7:05 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.