Fifteen men are on Eastern’s men’s basketball team, yet only one of them is a freshman… a 21-year-old freshman.
“Age-wise, I’m up there with everybody,” Panther guard Isaiah Griffin said. “Having the label ‘freshman’ right next to my name, it’s a positive and a negative because I get treated like a freshman, but in my eyes, I don’t see the ‘freshman, sophomore, junior’ labels as anything.”
Griffin knew at the age of six that he wanted to go to the NBA. At that age, he wanted the luxuries that most players in the league had: driving the flashy cars, owning a mansion and having a pool in the backyard.
“That’s almost every kid’s dream,” Griffin said. “I wanted to make it to the NBA [or] NFL, drive out in a Ferrari and have lots of money. Now, I really love the game, and it was always something I loved growing up.”
Growing up in Orange, New Jersey, Griffin attended three different high schools in a span of four years; one of them, St. Patrick High School, founded notable NBA player Kyrie Irving.
When Griffin was first in high school, going to public school wasn’t something on his mind, so Griffin’s family decided to have him attend St. Patrick.
Although Griffin did play for St. Patrick for the entirety of high school, he never got the Division I offer right out of high school.
After high school, Griffin and his parents had a talk so he can get more opportunities and offers to play at the Division I level.
“Playing AAU (Amateur Athletic Union), I still didn’t have any offers,” Griffin said. “I got a call from Sunrise Christian [Academy] out in Kansas, and they told me to come down there and to work. They said, ‘You’re gonna learn and get better to help prepare you for the Division I level even though you’re already there skill wise.’ So, I decided to pack my bags and go to Kansas.”
Griffin moved from New Jersey to Bel Aire, Kansas, to attend Sunrise Christian Academy for the 2022-2023 school year. Griffin helped the team end with a 33-4 record as well as a playoff run to the National Prep Championship.
“When I lived in Kansas, that was a culture shock,” Griffin said. “I was in Kansas from August [2022] to about May [2023]. I was doing post-grad prep school basketball.”
After playing at Sunrise Christian Academy, Griffin started getting the Division I offers he’s been waiting for, including an offer from head coach Marty Simmons to attend and play at Eastern.
“He’s a small, quick, crafty, skillful point guard,” sophomore forward Sincere Malone said about his teammate. “I feel like he’s very mature as far as his basketball game. He’s doesn’t make ‘average freshman mistakes,’ [and] he [didn’t] have a hard time adjusting from where he came from to now.”
When Griffin first got on the campus, senior guard Tiger Booker took Griffin under his wing to mentor him throughout the season.
“[Isaiah’s] younger than me, but we play the same position,” Booker said. “I feel like my role with Zay is teaching him whatever I can because once I’m gone after this year, it’s in his hands. We guard each other in practice all the time, and there have been days where Zay gets the best of me because he’s learning and getting better.”
Junior guard/forward Kyndall Davis likes playing with Griffin, and the two joke with each other about the rivalry between New Jersey and New York.
“Playing with Zay is fun,” Davis said. “Because I went to school in Brooklyn, I always mess with him. I always say he plays like he’s from New Jersey. There are good basketball players from New Jersey, but there’s a thing between New York and New Jersey.”
Sophomore forward Luke Light likes practicing with Griffin because of his talents and what he brings to the team.
“He’s unselfish, he’s a good passer and he knows the game,” Light said.
Griffin recently got cleared to play on the court after missing several games. As the regular season comes to a close, Griffin is hoping the Panthers can win the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
Zaria Flippin can be reached at 581-2812 or zhflippin@eiu.edu.
