Texas Basketball: Breaking down transfer guards interested in Horns

This 6-foot-5 and 195 pound rising junior Illinois Fighting Illini shooting guard Alan Griffin had himself his best season in college during his sophomore campaign. It was just unfortunate that he sat behind two guards on this Illinois team as talented as the NBA-caliber floor general Ayo Dosunmu and junior Trent Frazier.

But Griffin had a good argument to get more playing time under head coach Brad Underwood than Frazier did. That could be one of the reasons why he’s choosing to put his name in the transfer portal instead of sticking out his final two years in Champaign. He seems to already be generating a lot of interest in his services off the transfer market.

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reported on his Twitter timeline on March 29 that the six finalist schools for Griffin includes the Miami Hurricanes, Syracuse Orange, Iowa State Cyclones, Arizona Wildcats, Dayton Flyers, and the Longhorns. Although Griffin does have his list narrowed down more so than the other two guards on this list.

In 28 games played and only one start with Illinois last season, Griffin averaged 8.9 points per game, 4.5 rebounds, 0.6 assists, and 0.5 steals, while shooting 48.3 percent from the field, 41.6 percent from beyond the arc, and 86.1 percent from the charity stripe. He had one of the best player efficiency ratings on the team, at 26.2, and a sensational box plus/minus rating of 10.2. His offensive rating of 131.3 and defensive rating of 97.0 also stood out.

Griffin became one of the most efficient shooters and offensive creators on this roster last season. It’s easy to see why Texas has interest in him.