It was a relatively quiet week in men’s college basketball thanks to the Christmas holiday, but there was still plenty of high-level action. Four Big Ten games on Christmas Day headlined the week, as did a top-25 showdown between Gonzaga and Virginia and plenty of good mid-major action. Whose star shined brightest this week?
Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois
Illini fans had a very Merry Christmas this week, thanks to two massive performances by Dosunmu. First, the Chicago native helped his team rally from an early 15-point deficit at Penn State with a dominant second half, scoring 21 of his 30 points in the final 20 minutes to help Brad Underwood’s team win it, 98–81. But one 30-point explosion wasn’t enough. Dosunmu then dropped 30 once again Saturday in a gritty 69–60 home victory over Indiana. After the Hoosiers took a 49–44 lead with just under 10 minutes to play, Dosunmu took over with 10 points in the game’s next 3:13 to key a 14–0 Illini run that proved decisive.
Dosunmu surprised some in the sport by electing to return to school for his junior season, but he has really raised his game for a team with Big Ten title aspirations. The junior needed to improve as a shooter to boost his pro stock and has clearly made strides, knocking down 44% from downtown so far this season. Dosunmu has also become a more reliable distributor and is currently the only player in the country averaging at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists per game. And perhaps the wildest part? He may not even be the best player in the Big Ten!
Gonzaga’s offense
It’s time to start talking about Gonzaga going undefeated this season. Mark Few’s team continued its cross-country wrecking tour Saturday when it blew out Virginia at Dickies Arena in Texas. It wasn’t just that the Zags won—it was how they won. Gonzaga dropped 98 points against a Virginia team known for being incredibly stout on the defensive end, behind 32 points from Corey Kispert and 29 from Drew Timme. Per ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, the Bulldogs scored 1.485 points per possession in the game, the highest mark a team has ever scored against a Tony Bennett–coached squad.
Saturday’s win was even more evidence that this team has a chance to be historically great. Last week against Iowa, it was star freshman Jalen Suggs with the big performance. Virginia stymied Suggs, so Kispert lit up the Cavaliers instead with nine made triples and a career-high 32 points. The Bulldogs are almost impossible to guard when they push Kispert to the four and play Suggs, Andrew Nembhard and Joel Ayayi together. And as double-digit favorites in every game left on its schedule, per KenPom, it seems very possible that Gonzaga will head into March Madness undefeated.
Drake
Everyone who doubted Drake is asking for forgiveness … and no, I’m not talking about the rapper. Picked to finish seventh in the Missouri Valley in the preseason, the undefeated Bulldogs are the first team in the U.S. to get to 10 wins after Sunday’s dominant second half at Indiana State. Even more impressive: All 10 of Drake’s wins have been by at least 10 points. Sunday’s win in Terre Haute was emblematic of this team’s performances throughout the season, running a highly efficient offense with four players in double figures while sharing the ball well. Green Bay transfer ShanQuan Hemphill added to his strong campaign with 16 points in the win over the Sycamores, while Siena transfer Roman Penn has provided incredibly steady point guard play all season long.
The strong start to the 2020–21 season continues an upward trajectory for the program under third-year head coach Darian DeVries. Before his hiring in 2018, Drake had won 20 games in a season just once since 1971. But the Bulldogs won 24 games in Year 1 under DeVries, 20 in Year 2 and now Drake seems well on its way to a third straight 20-win campaign. An MVC title might even be in its sights.
Cameron Thomas, LSU
Thomas is the best freshman in the country you’ve probably never heard of, and he continued his huge start to the season with a 29-point outburst against Nicholls State on Saturday. The product of famed Oak Hill Academy, Thomas is as polished a scorer as you’ll ever find in college basketball thanks to a wide array of moves to create shots for himself. The Tigers got a much stiffer test than expected by in-state foe Nicholls, but Thomas refused to let his team lose with tough bucket after tough bucket. He also got to the free throw line with regularity, knocking down all seven attempts from the charity stripe to help the Tigers move to 5–1 on the season.
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Thomas is the only freshman in the country averaging more than 20 points per game this season. The Chesapeake, Va., native has scored at least 16 points in every game of his young collegiate career and seems well on his way to becoming a household name by March.
Minnesota
The Golden Gophers pulled off an improbable comeback in the final minute to force overtime on Christmas night before dominating the extra period to knock off No. 4 Iowa in the Twin Cities. Trailing by seven with 44 seconds to go, Minnesota had a win probability of just 1.2%, per KenPom. But misses at the free throw line by the Hawkeyes opened the door for a comeback, and a pair of threes by Marcus Carr in the final 31 seconds sent the game to overtime. That included this tough stepback in the closing seconds to tie the game:
The Gophers then exploded from beyond the arc in the overtime period. Senior forward Brandon Johnson, who had made just two threes in his team’s first seven games, knocked down four threes in just over three minutes of game action as part of a 19-point OT period for Minnesota. Johnson and Carr combined for 56 points in the victory, withstanding 32 points and 11 rebounds from Luka Garza to give the Gophers a major résumé win. The victory represents quite the turnaround for Minnesota after it lost its Big Ten opener 92–65 to Illinois in Champaign.
