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Aug. 14—The Braggin’ Rights balance of power in men’s basketball has shifted violently in the last three years.
Illinois still holds the all-time series lead with 34 wins to Missouri’s 20. The Illini are also the more accomplished basketball program, historically, with more than three times as many consensus First Team All-Americans and five Final Four appearances to the Tigers’ zero.
But all that means little for one night in late December every year. One team’s Christmas is merry. The other winds up with the basketball equivalent of a stocking full of coal.
Braggin’ Rights is a series that’s regularly seen one team rack up win after win in multi-year streaks. Missouri took its turn with three straight wins from 2018-20 after five in a row by Illinois from 2013-17.
Then the Illini took the Tigers to the woodshed in 2021 when the game returned to St. Louis after a brief, pandemic-related shift to Columbia, Mo., a year prior. A 25-point victory behind a dominant performance by Kofi Cockburn.
Missouri turned the tables in 2022 with a 22-point victory that never felt even that close. So, of course, Illinois answered last December with a 24-point thrashing with Terrence Shannon Jr. dropping 30 points on the Tigers.
Three years.
Three blowouts.
A changing tide in a long-held rivalry that’s started to match the volatility — particularly from a roster standpoint — of college basketball as a whole. A space where Illinois still has the upper hand heading into the 2024-25 season.
The Illini followed up their Braggin’ Rights victory last December by finishing second in the Big Ten, winning a Big Ten tournament title and making a run to the Elite Eight. One of the best seasons in program history. Certainly the best of the Brad Underwood era.
Missouri went the other direction. Fast.
The Tigers rebounded from their Braggin’ Rights curb stomping by beating Central Arkansas. Then they didn’t win again, racking up 19 consecutive losses against SEC opponents. An 8-24, Kim Anderson-esque season…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/richey-advantage-illini-now-144800422.html
Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
Publish date : 2024-08-14 14:48:00
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