Lafayette Grad Grabs National Spotlight After Fighting Illini Upset Indiana

A Lafayette High graduate and Wildwood native is getting at least a day in the national spotlight after less than a second of glory on the basketball court.

Tyler Griffey, a forward for the University of Illinois Fighting Illini, scored the winning basket with 0.9 second left in Thursday night's game against the No. 1 ranked Indiana Hoosiers. The layup capped a 13-2 run by the Illini that ended in a 74-72 upset of the Hoosiers, according to a story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The game was at Assembly Hall in Champaign, IL.

The move put Griffey, a senior at Illinois, on the highlight reel on the CBS morning news, part of a breaking news alert from USA Today Thursday night, on ESPN's highlights and part of a national conversation about whether the Hoosiers will be dumped from their top-ranked perch.

Griffey, 22, is majoring in kinesiology at Illinois. His profile page on the Illini website says his parents are Chris and Deanna Griffey and he has three siblings: sisters Brenna and Taryn and brother Trey.

Griffey's high school acolades with the Lancers included first-team All-Metro from the Post-Dispatch, a member of the U.S. Adidas Nations Team, second-team All-State accolades by the Missouri Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association and two-time Suburban West Conference Player of the Year.