Two weekends ago, when Missouri had a chance to knock off the No. 1 team in the nation in a home game, the Tigers came through with a nine-point win over Kansas.
Last weekend, when Illinois had a chance to beat the No. 1 team in a home game, the Illini lost on a layup at the buzzer by Tennessee’s Jordan Gainey.
That’s the thin difference between the Tigers (10-1) and the Illini (7-3) heading into the annual Braggin’ Rights matchup in St. Louis on Sunday. Good seats at Enterprise Center are going for more than $500 on the resale market for the border war being contested for the 42nd consecutive season.
For the winning team (and its fans), the victory will feel about as good as beating No. 1.
“I think these are the games that are so good for our sport,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “We’ve talked about the uniqueness of it: 11,000 (fans) of theirs, 11,000 of ours. The gold and black. The orange and blue. And what that’s truly like — because it is so different.”
“It’s important for us to try to control the other side of the border,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates told Hoops HQ. “In the border war, we’ve been able to get a win versus No. 1 Kansas and now we focus on Illinois on the other side of our border. We have to try to protect both sides.”
While Missouri does have the upset of the Jayhawks on its resume, there is not much else there. The Tigers have fashioned their 10-game winning streak entirely at home with Cal (Gates’ alma mater) as the only other non-buy game.
The Tigers are getting things done as a swarm: Eleven players are averaging at least 10 minutes per game, which enables them to play pressure defense at all times.
“They’re a very, very deep team playing 13 guys,” Underwood said, “which makes them very, very challenging to prepare for.”
The Tigers rank eighth nationally per KenPom in turnover percentage (23.2 percent of all possessions). Their leading scorer, sixth man Caleb Grill (13.6 ppg), has not played since sustaining a neck injury Nov. 27 vs. Lindenwood, but he practiced on Saturday.
Duke transfer Mark Mitchell (13.5 points per game), Indiana transfer Tamar Bates (12.3 ppg) and Anthony Robinson II (11.5 ppg, 2.5 steals per game) are Missouri’s other top options.
Illinois doesn’t go as deep as Missouri, but freshman point guard Kasparas Jakucionis has been doing enough for two players. The projected lottery pick has scored at least 20 points in each of Illinois’ past five games and averages 16.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.6 assists per contest. However, he also paces the Big Ten with 4.0 turnovers per game.
–Field Level Media
