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Earlier this week, the Illinois Fighting Illini got some tough news as two more players announced they would be going pro in Trent Frazier and Giorgi Bezhanishvili. Both were massive contributors for the program in recent years. Ayo Dosunmu also recently declared for the 2021 NBA Draft. These departures will certainly leave a mark for Brad Underwood and his staff.
I will be hiring an NCAA approved agent to help me throughout this process and will maintain my eligibility for next season. I-L-L pic.twitter.com/I98nStVDTA
— Trent (@_Trentfrazier1) April 9, 2021
During his four seasons in Champaign, Frazier played in a total of 126 games and averaged 11.4 points, 2.6 assists, and 2.4 rebounds per game. He was one of the team’s most consistent role players for the Illini over the last two seasons, providing a reliable option behind players like Dosunmu and Andre Curbelo.
Giorgi Bezhanishvili is entering the NBA Draft and pursuing the next step of being a pro pic.twitter.com/iQToWtHcTe
— Bret Beherns (@WCIA3Bret) April 8, 2021
Bezhanishvili also contributed significantly in his three years with the program. He played in 95 games for the Illini and averaged as much as 12.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. During the last two years, Bezhanishvili provided the program with a great option behind star big man Kofi Cockburn.
There’s little debating these two departures will leave quite a mark for Illinois next year. These were two of the program’s mainstays and replacing players like that is never easy, especially when you put that on top of Dosunmu’s departure as well. We’ll have to wait and see what happens moving forward, but these will be two players fans will certainly miss.