- Ky McKeon

I covered the Mizzou v. Illinois “Braggin’ Rights” game this past weekend, an opportunity particularly near and dear to my heart. Graduating from Mizzou as an Accounting major I never expected to have the chance to cover my Tigers from a media perspective, but there I was in the press box on December 21st at the Enterprise Center (an arena renamed more times than insert funny joke). I showed up to this game WAY too early, so there really wasn’t much to do aside from eat slowly in the press catering room and sit and watch the few players getting warm-up shots on the court.

Once game time crept nearer, I chopped it up with Mizzou basketball alums Andy and Ryan Rosburg and smiled and nodded at Illinois head football coach Lovie Smith. After taking the elevator up to the 4th floor press box (you cannot access it by stairs, which seems wildly unsafe), I was finally able to drink in the atmosphere of the arena. My first impression was there were way too few Mizzou fans, though the bright orange of the Illini faithful demanded much more attention to the eye than the Tiger black and gold. The PA announcer called out the starters, the Illini fans gave former commits Jeremiah Tilmon and Mark Smith plenty of jeering, and then it was time for basketball.

First Half

The beginning of the game was a sloppy affair with both teams applying good pressure in their respective half-courts and yielding nothing in the paint. It was clear from the get-go that Brad Underwood’s plan was to force feed freshman phenom Kofi Cockburn (the largest human being I have ever seen in person) on the block against Tilmon, possibly the most foul-prone big man in the United States of America. Sure enough Tilmon picked up his first foul not even three minutes into the ball game and should have had a quick second just over a minute later. Illinois jumped out of the gates first, building an 11-5 lead after a Giorgi Bezahnishvili three-pointer, one of only two the Illini would hit all game.

Mizzou wing Javon Pickett quickly answered Bezhanishvili’s three with one of his own, foreshadowing what would be his most impressive game of his young college career. Heading into the under-16:00 timeout, I had a few early observations: 1) Illinois’s offensive spacing was beautiful and was forcing Mizzou to scramble all over the floor, but shots were not falling, 2) Mizzou was doing a tremendous job keeping Cockburn off the glass. The Illini’s offense would start to stagnate throughout the game, something star guard Ayo Dosunmu and Coach Underwood talked about in the post-game presser, while Mizzou’s focus on denying the massive Cockburn rebounding opportunities would continue the remaining 36 minutes.

Illinois switched to a zone midway through the first half, which Mizzou surprisingly picked apart with ease. Pickett knocked down another three off great passing but the Tigers couldn’t get anything going inside the arc with Cockburn and Co. lurking. At the under-8:00 mark Mizzou was just 2/10 inside the arc but a scorching 4/9 from deep. With 10:55 left in the first half, Tilmon predictably picked up his second foul, leaving Cockburn to eat against backup big Reed Nikko. With 7:43 left in the half, Illinois held a narrow 19-16 lead thanks to a dominant 7/11 performance inside the paint – unfortunately for Underwood, his team was just 1/6 from three-point range.

Between the 8:00 and 4:00 minute marks, I became quite frustrated with Mizzou’s offense, an attack that consisted of a ball screen, standing, another ball screen, and settling for a tough shot. Thankfully for me and other Tiger fans, Illinois remained ice cold – and both teams were coughing the ball up regularly.

The last four minutes of the first half proved to be the turning point for the Tigers. Evansville transfer Dru Smith put the team on his back, getting to the foul line, knocking down tough pull-ups, and playing glove-like on-ball defense. A tough Smith layup gave Mizzou a 26-23 lead with 58.6 seconds to go, prompting an Illini timeout. The game was heating up and so was the crowd – chants of “MIZ” and “ILL” alternated with their “ZOU” and “INI” partners. At halftime Mizzou held a three-point advantage. The rebounding and turnover battles were dead even – Illinois was dominating the paint while Mizzou was hot from the Land of Plenty.

Second Half

Dru Smith started the second half right where he left off, converting yet another tough bucket. Pickett continued his hard-nosed play, grabbing offensive rebounds and taking it strong to the tin. Sophomore spark plug Xavier Pinson also joined in the scoring outburst, knocking down a wide open three off a baseline out-of-bounds play and giving the Tigers their biggest lead of the night, a nine point advantage over the stunned Illini.

Mizzou continued to assert its dominance on the offensive glass over the next eight minutes. Pinson and Pickett had a series of tip-ins and at one point the Tigers were grabbing an eye-popping 40% of their misses.

Defensively, the Tigers looked like the Great Wall of China and the Illini hopeless humans trying to breach. At the under-8:00 timeout Illinois was just 2/11 from the field in the second half and had coughed up the rock nine times to the Tigers’ four. Prior to picking up his 4th foul of the game, Jeremiah Tilmon provided the Enterprise Center patrons the play of the game:

The Tigers held a 12-point lead with just eight minutes to play, but the Mizzou fan in me wasn’t going to feel safe until the final buzzer – I’ve seen far too many collapses in my lifetime. Illinois’s defense started punching back, forcing steals and turning up the energy, but anemic offense kept the Illini from making a full comeback. Underwood started going back to his work horse, Cockburn, and picking up the Tigers in the fullcourt. Tilmon fouled out on a double technical with 4:29 to play while Mark Smith continued his poor play, completely overwhelmed by the Illini pressure. The Tigers held a 10-point lead with 3:43 to play, with the Illini looking to make one final push.

Mizzou tried to give the game away in the final four minutes. The Tigers had four turnovers in under two minutes, as Cuonzo Martin’s press break was apparently just “pass it to the corner, get trapped, and good luck.”

The Illini still couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn offensively but they were making regular trips to the foul line and Dosunmu started putting the team on his back. Dosunmu and Dru Smith went back-and-forth, trading buckets in stylistic fashion, Smith showing the fighting spirit Mizzou has been missing the past few seasons. Illinois cut it to five with one minute to play but two Pinson free throws sealed the deal. The last bit of drama was an after-the-whistle dunk by Mark Smith, the only time he put the ball through the basket all night, which sparked outrage among the Illini players and fans. Alan Griffin picked up a technical, but it was too late to change the outcome. At the final horn the score was Mizzou 63, Illinois 56. The Tigers had picked up their second good win of the season and second straight Braggin’ Rights victory.

Looking Forward

Mizzou kept its Tourney hopes alive with this win. The Tigers currently sit #67 in the NET with a 2-3 record against Q1 competition and one eyesore loss to Q4 opponent Charleston Southern. Martin said post-game he thinks this Mizzou team can have an elite defense, that his team is already good defensively but has about 25% more to go. His emphasis for the Braggin’ Rights game was to set the tone early, control the tempo, and “play with boxing gloves on.” If healthy, Martin said, Mizzou is as good as any team in the SEC. The improvement of Pickett and Pinson will certainly go a long way to making Mizzou’s dancing dreams a reality.

Illinois currently sits at #43 in the NET with just one victory against Q1 competition and one loss against Q3 competition. Like Mizzou’s narrow loss at Xavier, the Illini missed an enormous opportunity to score a quality win at Maryland, losing by one point after pounding the Terps for 30+ minutes. Underwood’s message in the post-game was simple: he was disappointed in his team’s fight; his guys didn’t have the right combative spirit; and his team lacked energy. Inconsistency has plagued the Illini all season and could spell doom for their Tourney hopes if not figured out in the early new year. As for the Braggin’ Rights game, Underwood said if you would’ve told him pre-game Mark Smith wouldn’t score and Tilmon would foul out, he’d have thought they’d win. He poured a heaping amount of praise on Pickett, a player for whom he said the Illini prepared for two days prior to the game. Holy Cross sit-out transfer Jacob Grandison played the role of Pickett in practice and wore the Illini out with his off-ball cutting. Underwood finished the press conference by saying his team’s stagnant offense would improve with better consistency.

Both teams are good enough to make the NCAA Tournament, but both teams have plenty of work to do in conference play.