Three things stick out when assessing Illinois men’s basketball coach John Groce:

1 — His energetic, caffeinated personality

2 — He can recruit with the best of them

3 — He owns March

No. 3 is probably the most impressive of the bunch. Groce owned an overall record of 85-56 in four seasons at Ohio, but that margin fell to 34-30 against conference opponents.

Even still, he took a mid-level Bobcats program to two Mid-American championships, twice sending his teams to the NCAA tournament. There, Ohio stunned third-seeded Georgetown on March 18, 2010, and last season toppled fourth-seeded Michigan and 12th-seeded South Florida to reach the Sweet 16 before losing to North Carolina.

Groce knows when the spotlight is on. This is his time of year.

“We had a team meeting talking about how the season went and what it takes to win in the postseason at this level,” senior Tyler Griffey said before Tuesday’s practice. “Coach Groce has had some success doing that, so we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Groce has always prepared his team in terms of seasons to keep attention sharp. The first was the nonconference grind, the second the grueling Big Ten schedule and now the Illini enter season three — postseason play, which starts with Thursday’s opening round of the Big Ten Tournament at the United Center.

No. 8-seeded Illinois has a tough first-round draw in No. 9-seeded Minnesota. The two teams split during the season, each winning one on the opponents’ home court. But when Illinois traveled to Minneapolis on Feb. 10, the Gophers were missing show-stopping dunker Rodney Williams due to injury. The 6-foot-7-inch forward is back now, meaning the undersized Illini will have a tough test against a Minnesota team that leads Big Ten with a plus-8.1 rebounding margin.

“He certainly changes their team,” Groce said. “We’ll have to keep him off the glass. You can’t let him make highlight plays in transition. He’s very versatile.”

Illinois enters Thursday’s contest as the team with questionable health this time around. Junior guard Joe Bertrand remains day-to-day with a shoulder injury and will be a game-time decision, while senior Sam McLaurin is coming off an ankle sprain.

But if the Illini have an advantage, it’s Chicago. They’ve already played at the United Center and several players on the roster from the Chicago area will have their families in attendance. Chicago-native Tracy Abrams scored 27 points and pulled down eight rebounds in Illinois’ 81-79 win against Auburn on the Bulls’ home floor Dec. 29.

With an 11 a.m. start, the two teams will hardly have enough time for a shootaround before taking the court for the tip. Groce isn’t too worried about that. The team travelled up to Chicago Wednesday afternoon to spend the eve of March together. His favorite time of the year is finally here.

“Great time of year, March,” Groce said. “Unbelievable time of year.”

Ethan can be reached at [email protected] and @asofthesky.