Illinois seniors Tyler Griffey, D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul have won 60 games in their careers, including wins in the Big Ten Tournament, National Invitation Tournament and the NCAA tournament. But as of late Saturday night, none of those victories have come against Missouri.
The Tigers outlasted No. 10 Illinois to notch an 82-73 win Saturday in the annual Bud Light Braggin’ Rights game in St. Louis, handing Illinois its first loss of the season. It marked the fourth consecutive victory for Missouri in the series after Illinois (12-1), which leads the overall series 20-12, won nine straight from 2000-08.
Both teams thrilled a crowd of 22,139 with up-tempo play and streaky runs as the lead changed 19 times over the duration of play. Illinois grabbed a 64-61 lead late in the second half before surrendering a 9-0 run to Missouri that Illinois could not surmount.
Illinois was manhandled on the boards by a physcial Missouri frontcourt and was outrebounded by a 58-35 margin. The streaky Illini shooters also turned in one of their worst shooting performances on the year, hitting only 8 out of 32 3-pointers at a 25 percent clip.
Paul led the Illini with 23 points, while sophomore center Nnanna Egwu delivered a career-high 12 points and nine rebounds. The Illini will return to their respective homes for Christmas and then reconvene in Champaign to prepare for Saturday’s game against Auburn at the United Center in Chicago.
Thomas can be reached at [email protected].
