Illinois Basketball: 3 observations from the Illini victory over Northwestern

1. Alan Griffin is our bench

At one time this season, the Illinois basketball team had a solid bench with two players who could score the basketball. That number is only one now.

The decline of Giorgi Bezhanishvili has been startling, to say the least. He was once a dynamic player who could score around the hoop and pull down rebounds. That isn’t the case anymore, and he has since been relegated to the bench.

Giorgi going to the bench meant someone had to replace him in the lineup. Brad Underwood then shifted around the starters and inserted Andres Feliz. That is nearly a five-inch drop in height, but this has proved to be a good move. But, with this move, the Illini bench was weakened.

To counterbalance Illinois losing Feliz’s production off the bench, Alan Griffin has stepped up even more than he was already stepping up. This kid is putting up better numbers than a majority of our starters. We are thankfully getting big numbers from him because he is our bench.

Griffin is now averaging 9.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 49.4-percent from the field and 42.7-percent from three-point range this season. Those numbers are boosted up from his great performance against Northwestern on Thursday night where he dropped 24 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists while shooting 9-of-11 from the field and 6-of-8 from distance.

Everyone saw the impact Griffin had on this Illinois team on Thursday night. But, to drive the point home that he is our bench, here are a few other numbers from the game. Griffin accounted for 92.3-percent of the bench points, 53.8-percent of the rebounds, 100-percent of the assists, 0-percent of the turnovers and 0-percent of the fouls. This kid is everything right now, and I am loving it.