CHAMPAIGN — Alan Griffin popping up off the bench and joining Andres Feliz at the scorer’s table, ready to check in before the first media timeout Thursday night at Ohio State, shouldn’t have been a surprise.
Sure, the 6-foot-5 freshman guard hadn’t played more than 7 minutes in any of Illinois’ last seven games and even drew a DNP against Michigan State, but the way Brad Underwood talked about Griffin the day before the game was the clue.
The last time Underwood was so animated about one of the Illini freshmen not named Ayo Dosunmu or Giorgi Bezhanishvili came before they traveled to Iowa.