Illini Legends, Lists and Lore: Braggin’ Rights Reflections

Sundays matchup is the 44th in the Braggin Rights era of the Illinois-Missouri basketball series.

The Illini lead 27-15 in games staged in St.

Louis.

Some other tidbits about one of college basketballs greatest rivalries: First neutral-site game in Braggin Rights Series The very first neutral-site game in the Illinois-Missouri basketball series (1980) escalated competition to new heights and initiated the phrase Braggin Rights.

The St.

Louis Checkerdome, later known as the St.

Louis Arena, hosted a crowd of 14,370.

Unranked Illinois, sparked by forward Eddie Johnson 's 20 points and the guard trio of Craig Tucker , Derek Harper and Perry Range , routed No.

14 Mizzou, 84-62.

UIs defense limited the Tigers to 40 percent shooting, worse than theyd shot in any of the 31 games from the previous season when they were the best-shooting team in the history of college basketball.

Top scorers In 45 years of the Braggin Rights series, only four Illini players have scored 30 points or more.

Ayo Dosunmu 's 36-point effort in 2020 is Illinois best individual effort, followed by 33 from Andy Kaufmann in 1990, 31 from Kiwane Garris in 1993, and 30 from Terrence Shannon Jr.

a year ago.

Mizzous best individual mark came in the 2022 game when Kobe Brown scored 31 points.

Best individual career scoring average In three Braggin Rights games (1989, 1990 and 1992), Kaufmann scored 68 points.

His 22.7 points per game average is the best by an Illini in the series.

Kenny Battle averaged 21.5 points in two games, while Dosunmu (19.7) and Kofi Cockburn (19.0) were just shy of 20 points per in three appearances each.

Buzzer beater Rayvonte Rice 's game-winning three-pointer in 2014 was the first buzzer-beater in Braggin Rights history.

Double-Doubles Through the years, a number of Illini players have had double-doubles.

Ken Snake Norman notched UIs first Braggin Rights twin-digit performance in 1985 when he had 22 points and 10 rebounds.

The very next year, Norman had 24 and 12.

Other Illini whove recorded double-doubles in St.

Louis include Deon Thomas (twice), Brian Cook , Kendrick Nunn , Maverick Morgan and Cockburn.

Assists In his four Gateway City games, all victories, Dee Brown averaged 6.3 assists per game.

Winning streaks Illinois longest winning streak came from 2000 through 2008, a nine-game victory run.

Two of those wins were by a single point, but six others were margins of six points or more.

Missouris longest streak has been four in a row (1991-94 and 2009-12).

When ranked Illinois has a 14-8 record when its been ranked in the Top 25, while Mizzou is 6-10.

Last year, the 13th-ranked Illini won by 24 points.

Shannon (30 points) and Quincy Guerrier (28) accounted for 58 of Illinois 97 points.

In 2024, neither team is listed among the Top 25 but both clubs are among the top five other teams receiving votes.

Biggest margin of victory In 2005, Illinois clobbered the Tigers by 32 points, leading by 18 at halftime.

The Tigers largest winning margin is 22 points in 2022.

Smallest margin of victory Five times, the Illinois-Missouri game in St.

Louis has been determined by just a single point.

Mizzou earned one-point wins in 1992 and 1993, while the Illini have had the narrowest of victories in 2003, 2007 and 2013.

Overtime games In games at St.

Louis, each team has two overtime victories.

Missouri was victories in 1981 and 1993 (triple overtime).

Illinois won extra-period games in both 1995 and 2000.

Coaching records Among Illini coaches, Brad Underwood has won three of his seven games against Missouri.

Lou Henson 's Illini teams accumulated a record of 10-5 against the Tigers.

St.

Louis Last year, the Braggin Rights series, in conjunction with the Enterprise Center, announced a six-year extension (through 2029).

Illinois has an 18-11 winning edge at Enterprise.

2020 COVID game Four years ago, the 2020 Braggin Rights game inherited an asterisk.

Scheduled in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a coin flip determined that Mizzou Arena would host the game, breaking a 39-year streak of playing at a neutral site in St.

Louis.

It was Illinois first trip to Columbia, Mo., since December 1978.

Missouri agreed to comply with UIs request that fans be prohibited from attending, so the element of crowd noise wasnt a factor.

Despite 36 points from Dosunmu and 19 more from Cockburn, unbeaten Missouri beat the sixth-ranked Illini by three, 81-78.

Illini Birthdays Saturday: Keith Taylor, football (60) Sunday: Kendrick Green, football (26) Monday: Emily Martin, swimming & diving Tuesday: Robert Bennett, basketball (51) Wednesday: Dan Beaver, football (70) Thursday: John Peach, football/baseball (70) Friday: Taylor Edwards, softball/basketball.

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