ST. LOUIS -- It would be hard to earn more bragging rights than that.
The Missouri Tigers dominated the No. 16 Illinois Fighting Illini in the 42nd edition of the Braggin’ Rights game, 93-71, giving the Tigers their fifth consecutive win in the matchup when Illinois enters the game ranked.
“It’s excellent to see back-to-back games, our guys executed the game plan,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “… I’m proud of our growth, I’m proud of our fans. It was an electric atmosphere, unbelievable atmosphere.”
Kobe Brown totaled a career-high 31 points, the highest total for a Tiger in a Braggin’ Rights game, on 10-of-15 shooting. including going 3-of-4 on 3-pointers He also led the game with eight assists and topped the Tigers with five rebounds and a co-team high four steals.
“I approached it like every other game,” Brown said. “Just wanted to come out and win, come out on top as a team. The ball went in for me tonight, so I’m happy for that.”
D’Moi Hodge scored 18 points in the first half on the way to a 20-point performance, DeAndre Gholston followed up his buzzer-beating game winner in Missouri’s last game with a 15-point showing on 6-of-9 shooting and Ronnie DeGray III took advantage of his second turn in the starting lineup with 10 points, four rebounds and a game-leading plus-minus of plus-32, 10 points higher than any other player.
“I knew from the jump, Ronnie, he’s a dog on the court,” Brown said. “He’s that one guy that I know is gonna come out with rebounds, with steals, just those tough plays. I just knew he was going to help us down the stretch.”
Missouri returned to its turnover-forcing defense, creating 33 points off 17 possession changes and never trailed after the 13:16 mark of the first half.
They out-toughed us, they out-fought us, they took our ball, they out-executed us,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “Kobe was no doubt the best player on the floor again in this game.”
The Tigers opened the game on a 6-0 run, but Illinois came back to take a 10-8 lead with 14:48 left in the first half when Terrence Shannon converted a traditional three-point play for three of his team-high 22 points.
Noah Carter hit a putback layup after a Gholston steal, one of Missouri’s 13, to tie the game at 12 with 13:16 left. Then the Tigers got running.
Brown hit a 3 from the top of the key, then kicked an assist to Gholston after an offensive rebound to put Missouri on a 7-0 run.
Hodge turned one of his co-team high four steals into a Brown putback layup to extend the lead to 12-0, then a Carter steal became a Hodge 3 from the right corner to put Missouri up 25-12.
“Just trying to keep them in front of us,” Hodge said of what led to Missouri’s success on defense. “Keeping them honest, no reaching, no gambling, just keeping them honest.”
Jayden Epps connected on two free throws, two of his 12 points for Illinois, to end a 5:39 scoreless streak and 15-0 Missouri run.
After a Gholston step-back jumper to give Missouri seven makes on nine attempts, the Tigers led 37-17. Missouri continued to build, hitting its final five shots of the first half, to take a 51-27 lead into halftime.
Missouri connected on 20-of-34 (58.8 percent) of its shots in the first half, including 6-of-13 (46.2 percent) from 3, while holding Illinois to 9-of-28 (32.1 percent) shooting overall and 1-of-15 (6.7 percent) from 3.
Missouri built to a 68-36 lead after a long DeGray 2 off a Brown assist, then built the biggest lead of the night at 76-41 when Sean East poked a steal loose and tossed it ahead to Hodge for a layup called good on goaltending. The score also pushed Hodge to 20 points.
“We didn’t play well, I’m dead serious,” Gates said. “I don’t think we played well and I’ll continue to challenge my guys on executing the things we need to execute. For a full 40 minutes, we did not play well.”
Missouri’s defense let up in the final 10 minutes, allowing Illinois’ offense to have more success, but the Illini never cut the lead within 20 points the rest of the way.
The Tigers made 35-of-59 (59.3 percent) overall, 10-of-20 (50 percent) from 3 and 13-of-18 (72.2 percent) from the free-throw line. Illinois connected on 25-of-62 (40.3 percent) overall, 7-of-31 (22.6 percent) from beyond the arc and 14-of-19 (73.7 percent) from the charity stripe.
Missouri beat Illinois in points off turnovers (33-10), in the paint (42-36), on second chances (13-11) and on fast breaks (18-13).
Missouri (11-1) is off for the holidays and will return to the court Wednesday with a home matchup against Kentucky to open Southeastern Conference play.
III
Missouri 93, Illinois 71
ILLINOIS (8-4)
Hawkins 2-8 0-1 4, Clark 0-4 0-0 0, Melendez 0-3 0-0 0, Shannon 6-13 10-12 22, Mayer 6-12 0-0 16, Epps 4-13 2-2 12, Harris 3-4 1-2 8, Dainja 4-4 1-2 9, Rodgers 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-62 14-19 71.
MISSOURI (11-1)
DeGray 3-6 3-4 10, Gomillion 4-5 0-0 8, Hodge 8-13 0-2 20, Honor 2-5 0-0 4, Ko. Brown 10-15 8-8 31, East 1-4 1-2 3, Gholston 6-9 1-2 15, Carter 1-2 0-0 2, Shaw 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-59 13-18 93.
Halftime—Missouri 51-27. 3-Point Goals—Illinois 7-32 (Mayer 4-8, Epps 2-9, Harris 1-1, Clark 0-1, Melendez 0-2, Shannon 0-5, Hawkins 0-6), Missouri 10-20 (Hodge 4-9, Ko.Brown 3-4, Gholston 2-3, DeGray 1-2, East 0-1, Honor 0-1). Rebounds—Illinois 33 (Shannon 7), Missouri 24 (Ko. Brown 5). Assists—Illinois 10 (Shannon 4), Missouri 23 (Ko .Brown 8). Total Fouls—Illinois 16, Missouri 20. Fouled Out—Gholston.