The Illinois basketball team beat the Northwestern Wildcats for the second time this season, 74-66.
The Illini played great on offense Thursday night. The Orange and Blue shot 34-percent from three-point range as a team, and they shot 46-percent from the field. Illinois did a great job of moving the ball as they consistently found open shooters. There were multiple players who impressed me versus Northwestern. But one Illini stood out from the rest of the team.
That player is none other than Alan Griffin. He was a huge spark plug off the bench against the Wildcats.
Griffin had the best game of his career on Thursday. He went for a career-high of 24 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 2 assists. He also shot lights out, going 9-of-11 from the field and 6-of-8 from three-point range.
It seemed like Griffin couldn’t miss. At one point, he was 5-of-5 from three-point range. He did a great job of moving without the ball and taking advantage of some bad Northwestern defense.
I don’t think anybody was expecting this type of performance from Griffin. He came in and grabbed rebounds and caught an alley-oop that gave Illinois a lot of momentum. Illinois needed this performance off the bench considering the rest of the bench was lack-luster.
Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn were also MVP candidates for this game. They both played well on Thursday.
Illinois improves to 19-9 overall and 11-6 in the Big Ten. They are currently on a three-game win streak as well. Hopefully, this game gives them momentum going into the matchup against Indiana on Sunday.