ST. LOUIS —  After each of the last three Braggin’ Rights games between the Missouri Tigers and the Illinois Fighting Illini have been decided by 20 or more points, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood believes gave fans “a pretty good show” Sunday.

The game was tied at 72, 75 and 77 in the final 2:30 of play before Illinois finally created separation with a successful jump shot from Kasparas Jakucionis with 28 seconds remaining to secure a 80-77 win for Illinois.

“We kept our foot on the shovel and we kept digging,” Missouri head coach Dennis Gates said of Missouri’s performance in the final minutes. “That’s the sign of a good team.”

Illinois has been ranked as high as 19th in the AP Poll this season before falling out of the rankings on Dec. 9. The Tigers received more votes than Illinois in the most recent AP Poll, with both just outside of the top 25. But Sunday showed why both Missouri and Illinois could continue to rise throughout the remainder of the season.

“That’s two really good basketball teams,” Underwood said after the win for Illinois. “It makes this game another game that is great for college basketball.”

Being able to compete with a team as formidable as Illinois was not something the Tigers did often through the 2023-’24 season, going 0-18 in SEC play. But, Missouri is already starting to show signs of steering the ship back in the right direction. First with an upset win over Kansas on Dec. 8, and now with this performance against Illinois.

“Dennis does a fabulous job,” Underwood said. Coming off the year they had last year, is putting together a really good team.”

Sunday’s matchup was the 55th annual Braggin’ Rights showdown, host to a historic rivalry. Even with the loss, Missouri showed why they could reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2022-’23 season, Gates’ first year as the program’s head coach.

“When you get those two teams together, and you get them in the unique circumstances, you get a crowd like today, which, by the way, ours was fantastic,” Underwood said. “That’s an NCAA tournament team.”

Mizzou Loses at Buzzer to Illinois in Braggin’ Rights Game

What I’m looking at: Illinois

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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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