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Top 10 Illinois basketball transfers of all time

The transfer portal has helped the Illinois basketball program a lot over the decades with some of the incoming transfers playing some big minutes.

By Rees Woodcock

Dec 6, 2022; New York, New York, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Terrence Shannon Jr. (0) reacts after scoring and drawing a foul against the Texas Longhorns during overtime at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 6, 2022; New York, New York, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Terrence Shannon Jr. (0) reacts after scoring and drawing a foul against the Texas Longhorns during overtime at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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No. 3 Marcus Griffin

Those academics will get you sometimes, I know from experience. Marcus Griffin had to take a slight detour in his career due to grades, but he would eventually get things corrected.

Griffin was one of the best players in high school basketball. Sergio McClain, Frank Williams, and Griffin formed one of the best high school basketball teams anyone has ever seen at Peoria Manual. The team won four straight state titles, and all three players were supposed to attend Illinois.

McClain and Williams would make it to Champaign, but thanks to grades, Griffin had to make a pitstop in the junior college ranks at Lincoln College. He would make the NJCAA All-American team before departing for Illinois.

Griffin would spend two seasons with the Illini. He would hit double-digit points every year, and during his final season with the program, he averaged 11.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, and 1.0 assists per game.

While it wasn’t the Manual-level of winning, Griffin did help Illinois win a lot of games while with the program. During the 1999-00 season, Illinois would win 22 games and make it to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Griffin would then help the Illini back to the NCAA tournament in 2000-01 as a No. 1 seed. We would get to the Elite 8 only to lose to No. 2 Arizona.

Griffin was part of a special run of Illinois basketball. The mid-1990s was a rough stretch, but Illinois rebounded nicely. Griffin was a key player in the resurgence.

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