Anthony Griffis Enjoys Successes of Impressive Basketball Career

University of Tampa senior guard Anthony Griffis looks back on his basketball career and finds that many people in his life have influenced his play and love for the sport.

Griffis was just a baby when he first picked up a basketball, "my mom told me that all I did when I was a baby was dribble a basketball all around the house."

When he was just a 5-year-old boy, his mom enrolled him in a local parks and recreation basketball league down the street from his home in Raleigh, N.C. From there, with his mom being his biggest influence, he started his dream of wanting to become a basketball phenomenon.

Throughout the entirety of his career, Griffis has been motivated to improve his skills every day. Notably starting in high school, he started to shine his senior year at Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, N.C.

With this being the same high school that NBA all-stars Tracy McGrady and Amare Stoudemire attended, expectations were high. "When you play at Mount Zion, people have such great expectations for you because of all the great players that came through there," stated Griffis.

These expectations led him to practicing for hours in the gym over the summer leading into his senior year of high school. Those hours of hard work paid off in his mind, "looking back on my entire career, I would have to say my senior year at Mount Zion was my proudest moment. I was very motivated that year and it was gratifying to see all my hard work paying dividends."

Coming out of high school, Griffis went to Lincoln Trail College in Illinois to play basketball. After two years at Lincoln Trail, he decided he wanted a change of scenery and transferred to the University of Tampa.

"Coming to Tampa, I didn't know what to expect, but I knew that I would definitely like the weather down here more," says Griffis.

Being a transfer for most people is a difficult process, especially when you are an athlete trying to find your place on the new team. However, this process was very smooth for him thanks to the help of former Tampa basketball star and two time All-American Rashad Callaway.

"Coming in here, Rashad really helped me out, he motivated me to get better and it was really fun playing with him," states Griffis. Rashad was a big influence on his Tampa career, so much so that the two are still very close friends today.

During Griffis' junior year, he and Callaway were UT's top two scorers and led the Spartans to a 22-7 season. After sitting out the next season, he is now averaging similar numbers to his stellar junior year.

Now that he is a senior and a captain of the team, he hopes to finish his college career with a national championship, "my goal for the end of the year is to make the tournament and surprise everyone by winning the title."

After Griffis finishes his college career here at UT, he is determined to play professional basketball. He has looked into playing overseas, but his main focus right now is getting better every day and finishing out his college career on the right note.

He knows that he will have to be more motivated than ever to play somewhere professionally, but as long as he is playing basketball somewhere he is going to be satisfied.

"I can't imagine doing anything else besides playing basketball, I don't want to do anything else besides play basketball. As long as I'm on that court I'm happy," concludes Griffis.

Written by Zach Rhodes