Brian Randle stayed awake as long as he could Tuesday night.

The miles passed on his drive from Champaign to Peoria – roughly 90 of them – after a final round of “goodbyes,” and ” see you laters” went down around campus.

The former Illini was thinking about his 14-hour flight from O’Hare to Israel, with an expected layover in London’s Heathrow Airport. His new town and the home of his new team, Hapoel Gilboa Galil Elyon, have awaited his arrival since Randle signed a contract to play for the club one week ago.

He hoped that staying awake would get him tired – tired enough that falling asleep through the entire flight wouldn’t be a problem. Last night, he planned to stay awake as well. But maybe, as he hinted, he wasn’t staying awake only to exhaust himself.

These were the last two nights Randle wouldn’t be six thousand miles away from his family home, friends, his father Charles, and his mother Maryann. Anticipating his first extended stay in a foreign country, he was taking it all in once more. With the anxious nerves of a rookie, he waited with his family.

“It’s going to be a big jump for me,” he said by phone Wednesday morning. “I talked to my mom last night about all of it – that was really hard. I’ve talked to my dad a lot, too. It’s not like going to work in another U.S. city. It’s halfway around the world, in an entirely different culture, without access to the people I love that have been such a huge part of my life.”

For Maryann, it means not seeing her boy as often. To comfort herself, she said she tries to remember the thousands of other families separated by great distances.

“This isn’t the first time this has ever happened to anybody,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t miss him. I’m going to. Of course I’m going to.”

For Charles, the thought of Brian playing basketball overseas – or maybe the thought of not being able to see his son play – caused him to pause.

“We’ve been so used to driving 90 miles and see him play, not only in Champaign, but at different places across the country,” Charles said. “We’ve been able to attend 90-95 percent of the games before now. After the NBA draft, we knew it might be an uphill struggle for him to prove himself, to make a team, and show he has the ability to be an elite player.

“(But) he’s having an opportunity to play in a major league in Israel, and potentially prove to himself more than anyone else that he’s deserving of playing at the next level.”

In his senior season at Illinois last year, Randle posted averages of 9.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in a disappointing 16-19 season in which the Illini failed to make it to the postseason. His career at the University was filled with injuries – including his shoulder, hand and groin – and he was never quite able to live up to his billing as a top-50 recruit out of high school.

Still, after spending time with the Atlanta Hawks and the former Seattle Supersonics in recent months, Randle said he’s becoming confident again.

“NBA teams say they really like me, my athleticism, my feel for the game,” he said. “One knock they’ve had is from last year, if my body can hold up. The other is they want me to be aggressive and be a scorer, teams would like to see that. This year in Israel will be good for me. When they bring Americans over, they expect them to put points on the board. Maybe I’ve shied away from some of that in the past.”

Randle said he can’t count on a one-and-done venture overseas. He sees potential in Europe if he can’t find an interested team in the NBA next season.

And after hearing only good things about Israeli basketball leagues from players in the Chicago Pro Am and Illinois head coach Bruce Weber, he’s said he’s ready to give Israel a chance.

“From what I’ve heard, the European fans and the fans in that town are wonderful,” Randle said. “Very rowdy, obviously not as much as soccer, but with the same loyalty to their team.”

Randle joked that he’d stretch a lot during his layover in London, in case Israeli team officials expect him to suit up upon arrival – jet-lag or not.

“It’ll feel really good to stretch my legs,” he said. “They’d probably be sorely disappointed if they wanted to see me play right away. But if that’s what I have to do … “

Randle’s parents accompanied him to Chicago on Wednesday, and said they’d see him off before the Thursday flight. Prior to heading out, and with an ever-relaxed voice, Randle said he’s done everything in his power to get to this point.

“What happens to me from here is in God’s hands to tell you the truth,” he added. “If I can play well, continue to grow up, and become the man that I am outside of that, everything else will take care of itself.”