What I’m looking at: Illinois

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Matchups

What I’m looking for

Both of the Braggin’ Rights games that Dennis Gates has coached in with the Missouri Tigers against the Illinois Fighting Illini have been blowouts, being decided by 22 and 24 points respectively.

The resumes of both teams entering Sunday’s matchup promise a much more competitive game.

Missouri rides into the game in St. Louis on a 10-game win streak, less than three weeks removed from a victory over Kansas, then the top-ranked team in the nation.

Illinois last went toe to toe with No. 1 Tennessee, falling 66-64. They earned a quality, 90-77 win over Arkansas on Thanksgiving.

The Tigers and the Illini are also near the top in the nation for two statistical categories respectively.

The emphasis in Gates’ speech to his team at the conclusion of practice Saturday was a focus on the details. If the 2024 rendition follows the history of past Braggin’ Rights games though, the energy of a ruckus environment at the Enterprise Center will need to be matched on the court.

“You go into rivalry games, you have x’s and o’s and this and that, I think it just comes down to fight,” Missouri’s Mark Mitchell said. “It don’t matter what the record is. You could be 0-10, the other team 10-0, but it’s still going to be a dogfight until the very end.

Out of the gates, Missouri will be looking to set the tone for the game and make sure the energy in a split crowd is swinging in their favor. It was key in its win over Kansas, with Missouri forcing six turnovers and shooting 7-for-13 in the first 11 minutes to take a 22-11 lead.

“When we played Kansas, we came out, we set the tone early,” Mitchell said. “We weren’t gonna back down, we weren’t gonna lay down. I think just being tough, physical, disruptive is something that’s going to be really important.”

Turnovers were key for all 40 minutes in the Tigers’ win over Kansas, with Missouri scoring 23 points off 22 turnovers. Illinois, giving up an average of 11.2 turnovers per game, has been focused in their preparation on protecting the ball.

“That’s been a big emphasis for coach [Brad] Underwood this week in practice,” Illinois guard Kylan Boswell said of turnovers. “Being ball tough and then not fouling on the other end. … I feel like we’ve done a good job this year of making sure we’re not fouling too many times.”

Illinois is looking to be cautious when it comes to fouls as Missouri’s 29.5 free-throw attempts are the second-highest in the nation. Missouri has been successful on 71.4% of those attempts.

Illinois will have to balance an avoidance of fouls and turnovers while still sticking to their physical identity. Entering Sunday’s game, Illinois leads the nation with 45.6 rebounds per game.

“There’s gonna be some of those turnovers,” Underwood said. “I think that decisions you make at the rim they have to be solid and and we just can’t have live-ball turnovers. Those are the ones that I’m really concerned the most about.”

Gates’ rotations this season, as they have in his entire tenure with Missouri, are deep and fluid. Illinois’ elite rebounding ability will be something that influences his decisions, and the decisions of his players on the court.

“We gotta make sure, rotation wise, that we are not in a compromising situation so we’re in position to block out,” Gates said. “They’re gonna crash all five guys if they can. We know that. We gotta do our job and make sure our shot selection doesn’t put us in a disadvantage defensively.”

Underwood has seen first-hand how both turnovers and rebounds can impact the game. In losses to Tennessee and Alabama, the Illini gave up 11 and 13 turnovers respectively. They lost the rebound battle 42-to-37 to Tennessee.

“That could be a deciding factor,” Underwood said of rebounding. “Turnovers, rebounding, those are always, in almost every game, deciding factors.”

Both squads also bring two players who could single-handedly be deciding factors in Missouri’s Anthony Robinson II and Illinois’ Kasparas Jakucionis.

Jakucionis, a freshman from Lithuania, has been making an impact already for Illinois. The 6-foot-6, 200-pound guard leads the team in both points (16.6) and assists (5.6)

“He’s a great player,” Robinson said of Jakucionis. “It’s gonna be a touch matchup. And I’m gonna come out there and show what I got.”

Robinson has made leaps of growth since his freshman year, averaging 11.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists this season. In Missouri’s win over California, the Florida product scored 29 points and recorded six assists. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound point guard is a facilitator offensively and a pesky defender.

“He’s a guy that we call ‘the head of the snake,’” Underwood said of Robinson. “He makes them go. He’s very, very unselfish. And then he’s he’s a he’s a he’s a past on the defensive side. He’s, you know, he’s done a great job of of hounding some really good point guards”

A win over a fringe-top-25 team would be especially important for Missouri before entering SEC play. The Tigers will have an uphill battle in conference play, where Gates suspects 13 or 14 teams will be good enough to make the NCAA tournament.

After the statement win over Kansas, Missouri is looking to prove that win was not a fluke.

“It’s gonna be a fun atmosphere,” Robinson said. “Just gonna come in and show we got . And we can shock the world a little bit. People are doubting us, we’re gonna come out and show people what we got.”

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CHICAGO (WLS) — One of the world’s most legendary explorers, James Lovell, spoke with ABC7 on Saturday about the honor of December 21 being named Captain James Lovell Day in Illinois.

The honor has been a long time coming for the 96-year-old, who is now being recognized for his incredible contribution because of the efforts of two Illinois state senators.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

Lovell began his career in aviation as a navy pilot before being chosen by NASA in 1962.

As an astronaut, Lovell had several missions that make up the fabric of historic firsts.

He was a part of the Gemini 12 mission, which was the first rendezvous of the two-manned maneuverable spacecraft, as well as his favorite mission, Apollo 8, where he and his fellow crewmen became the first humans to leave earth’s gravitational pull and orbit the moon.

But Lovell is best remembered as commander of the Apollo 13 mission, where an oxygen tank exploded two days after the launch, depleting oxygen and power inside the command module odyssey.

The mishap sparked a rush to rescue the crew stranded more than 200,000 miles from home and the remarks of Lovell were made famous in the 1995 “Apollo 13” movie starring Tom Hanks.

Lovell’s heroics were celebrated as the trio returned safely to earth.

Now, Lovell resides quietly in Chicago’s north suburbs, remembering his career as an explorer.

And while he managed to accomplish so much, he wishes he could have gone to Mars.

Artifacts from his many travels are housed at the Adler Planetarium, as are his many dreams of future space exploration as he continues to look to the stars.