Champaign – The youth movement has officially taken hold of the Illinois basketball program, and their grip isn’t loosening anytime soon.

There are the obvious signs, of course. Freshmen Ayo Dosunmu and Giorgi Bezhanishvili dominated Minnesota and led the Illini to a 95-68 rout. The two combined for 43 points.

But then there are the not so obvious signs. These included freshman Tevian Jones being the sixth man off the bench even when senior Aaron Jordan is sitting right next to him.

There’s freshman Samba Kane checking in at the 15:54 mark of the first half, while senior Adonis De La Rosa sits at the end of the bench with his warmup shirt on.

And barely a minute later, a wild Alan Griffin appeared out of his natural habitat on a blue-cushioned seat. And red-shirt junior Kipper Nichols watched from his seat as Griffin jogged over to the scorer’s table.

Now only one of these three players played over 10 minutes (Griffin with 13), but these early ticks are a sign of growth and development within the ranks and others outside the program are taking notice.

“You don’t look at the record,” Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino said. “I think (Illinois head coach Brad Underwood) is doing a great job just from an eye test. Coaching-wise, he gets his guys to compete, they’re tough. They play hard. There’s a belief in the system that they’re staying true to.

“They played a tough schedule. They haven’t played many home games. Lost a conference game playing in Chicago, for what reason I don’t know. Then obviously you go to Maui. I think Brad’s a great coach.”

Then there’s been two of the more consistent players on the roster in Dosunmu and Bezhanishvili. The two have started practically all season and against Minnesota, they didn’t show their potential. They showed what they’re bringing to the table now.

“It’s pretty unique to have that,” Underwood said. “Now, I expect that.”

Dosunmu was sensational once again, scoring 23 points on an efficient 9-of-13 shooting (3-of-4 from three-point range). He brought it on both ends as well, holding Minnesota’s leading scorer Amir Coffey to 9 points on 2-of-13 shooting.

He was in his bag all night. Dosunmu continued to be unstoppable in transition, showing off the strength and body control on several layups. The jumper was falling easily. This time, it punished defenders for going under ball screens. And in the half court, he didn’t miss a beat, showing a little flare with a probe dribble move and finishing with a soft floater.

“It felt good just clicking on all cylinders, today,” Dosunmu said.

Ranked as the 25th prospect in the 2019 NBA Draft, expect his stock to only rise after this performance.

Coming into the season as a five-star talent, this level of play may not be as surprising from Dosunmu, but seeing the Georgian unknown Bezhanishvili dominate a Big Ten opponent in the paint as a freshman is most certainly eye-opening. His head coach is even taken back from his level of production.

“He averaged 9 points a game in high school,” Underwood said. “How many 9 point a game guys do you see step into a Big Ten game and score 20 in a game?”

Bezhanishvili scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting and hauled in 8 rebounds, six of which were offensive. Neither Gopher Jordan Murphy or Daniel Oturu could handle him down low.

“Guys believe in me,” Bezhanishvili said. “They pass me the ball and then I just have to be aggressive.”

It’s a big win for a young and developing program and there’s no hiding it. The real test will be if this level of play can be sustained this season.

“We work every day and then it pays off a little bit. Our record doesn’t show it, but today, we have the win,” Bezhanishvili said. “We work so much as a young team and hopefully we can get more wins. You feel like you’ve accomplished something when you’ve been working so much. It’s a good feeling right now having a big upset as a young team. I think we can go far. We just have to keep working and growing every day.”