Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini loss to Gonzaga

The Illinois basketball team dropped their second game in a row as they fell to the No. 3 Gonzaga Bulldogs, 84-78.

A 1-2 record isn’t good for any team, but there needs to be context to that statement. Illinois could have won the Georgetown game if Trent Frazier would have been healthy. And the game on Monday night against a Gonzaga team that is a national title contender is encouraging. This Illinois team looked solid but still didn’t play their best game against the Bulldogs. That also gives me hope for the future.

The matchup between Gonzaga and Illinois ended up being pretty good. The two teams went back and forth for much of the first half. Gonzaga ended up taking a six-point lead with six minutes left in the half. But, Illinois managed to get it back to two points with a little over a minute left. The Bulldogs made two big shots down the stretch to take a 39-32 halftime lead.

Gonzaga came out hot in the second half. They extended the lead to 10 points less than three minutes in. This lead was extended to 13 points on multiple occasions moving forward. The Illini just couldn’t get over that 10-point deficit for much of the half. But, that is when Trent Frazier took over the game.

Frazier went on his own 10-3 run for the Illini to bring the deficit down to just four points at the 6:36 mark in the second half. Illinois was actually able to get the Gonzaga lead down to two points on multiple occasions down the stretch. The Illini even had the ball down two with 31 seconds left. But, things didn’t go the Orange and Blue way, and the final score showed 84-78 in favor of the Bulldogs.

Here are five observations from the Illini loss to Gonzaga.