Gonzaga Basketball: 5 teams that can defeat the Bulldogs this 2020-21 season

Illinois Fighting Illini (13-5, 9-3)

I talked a fair amount about not relying on just star power to finally defeat Gonzaga. Yet in order to beat the No. 1 team in the country, you’re going to have to find a star performance or two in the game. And Illinois has a pair of superstars in Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn that is capable of going off.

Dosunmu is averaging 21.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg and 5.1 apg and if Luka Garza wasn’t around, would be the Big Ten Player of the Year and certain All-American. The junior guard is an elite scorer in all kinds of ways and is clutch as well, meaning that a close game against Gonzaga will have him having the ball late.

He versus Suggs would be a tremendous matchup at point but the edge would go to the junior who has the experience. The freshman Suggs struggled in both games against Colbey Ross of Pepperdine, who has a similar style as Dosunmu. And Illinois has some backcourt depth besides Dosunmu, with freshman guards Adam Miller and Andre Curbelo having high ceilings long-term.

Senior Trent Frazier is the team’s third-leading scorer at 10.1 ppg and shoots 38% from three-point range. As a team, the Illini is 13th nationally at 39% from deep. That will be needed to beat Gonzaga in a shootout.

Inside, Illinois will need Cockburn (17.2 ppg and 10.4 rpg) to outplay Timme inside. The Gonzaga center has his roughest game of the season against now-former West Virginia center Oscar Tshiebwe earlier in the season due to his physicality and aggressiveness. Cockburn is just as good defensively but more of an offensive threat and could get Timme in foul trouble depending on the whistles.

The Illini also has a pair of veteran players in backup center Giorgi Bezhanishvili and Damonte Williams, who plays the undersized forward position and could match up with Kispert or Anton Watson. If Coleman Hawkins and Jacob Grandison can give Illinois anything in this game, that would improve their odds even more.

There’s no question that Dosunmu and Cockburn would have to go over their average of 38.4 ppg combined to have any chance against Gonzaga. But we’ve seen Illinois this season look like the third-best team in the country and when the shots are falling, they’re capable of beating the Bulldogs.

They were competitive against Baylor earlier in the season before the Bears went off from deep and I’m sure they learned some valuable lessons from that matchup that could be applied against the other unbeaten team in Gonzaga Basketball.