Missouri Tigers vs. Illinois: Tipoff time, TV, projected lineups and a prediction
When/Where: Saturday 7 p.m. at Enterprise Center, St. Louis
TV/Radio: Big 10 Network; KMBZ (98.1 FM)
Projected Lineups:
P | No. | Missouri | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
G | 13 | Mark Smith | 6-4 | So. | 11.7 |
G | 15 | Jordan Geist | 6-2 | Sr. | 12.7 |
F | 4 | Javon Pickett | 6-4 | Fr. | 6.6 |
F | 24 | Kevin Puryear | 6-7 | Sr. | 9.1 |
C | 23 | Jeremiah Tilmon | 6-10 | So. | 11 |
P | No. | Illinois | Ht. | Yr. | |
G | 1 | Trent Frazier | 6-1 | So. | 15.4 |
G | 23 | Aaron Jordan | 6-5 | Sr. | 10 |
G | 20 | Da’Monte Williams | 6-3 | So. | 4.7 |
F | 2 | Kipper Nichols | 6-6 | Jr. | 9.7 |
F | 15 | Giorgi Bezhanishvili | 6-9 | Fr. | 9.9 |
About Missouri (7-3): Missouri goes into Braggin’ Rights riding a four-game winning streak and coming off a huge win over Xavier. The Tigers blew out the Musketeers and had a huge performance from Jeremiah Tilmon, who had a career-high 23 points and 10 rebounds. MU will start three former Illinois signees/players in Tilmon, Mark Smith and Javon Pickett, which should make for an interesting atmosphere. The Tigers have dropped five straight games to Illinois.
About Illinois (4-7): Brad Underwood’s second team at Illinois has had a tough start, given that the Illini have already played Notre Dame, Xavier, Iowa State, Ohio State and Gonzaga among others. McDonald’s All-American Ayo Dosunmo has been decent for Illinois, averaging 12 points a game, but the team has mainly run offense through sophomore Trent Frazier. Illinois’ opponents are averaging 18.5 turnovers per game against Underwood’s press, which makes ball security an even bigger priority for MU.
Prediction: Missouri has the superior talent but can it break the press and take care of the ball? The Tigers appear to be trending in that direction. It won’t be pretty but Missouri heads into Christmas with a five-game winning streak. Mark Smith drops 20 on his former team while Kevin Puryear takes the Braggin’ Rights trophy back with him to KC for the holiday break.
Missouri 70, Illinois 65
This story was originally published December 21, 2018 at 3:33 PM.