Mizzou delivers early knockout to No. 16 Illinois in historic, lopsided Braggin’ Rights win

If Missouri’s first loss of the season — a thrashing at the hands of rival Kansas in front of a sold-out home crowd — was a wakeup call, the Tigers made sure everyone knew they picked up the phone.

The Fighting Illini, on the other hand? They still might not know what hit them.

Missouri blasted No. 16 Illinois on Thursday 93-71 behind a career-high 31 points, eight assists, five rebounds and four steals from Kobe Brown, plus 20 points and four more steals from D’Moi Hodge.

In a series dubbed “Braggin’ Rights,” played between the two sides at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, the run-and-gun, havoc-inducing Tigers (11-1) showcased what it looks like when both sides of the ball are clicking: frenetic up-and-down hoops, highlights at the rim and a barrage of buckets from long range — oh, and Missouri’s largest margin of victory (22 points) in series history.

Perhaps the top highlight: Brown’s four-point play that stretched Missouri’s early-second-half lead to 30 (66-36).

But did you happen to catch the first half? There might have been a few others.

The Tigers jumped out to a 6-0 lead, absorbed the first punch from Illinois — the Fighting Illini led 12-10 with 14:05 to play — and delivered a haymaker of their own. The Tigers scored 10 straight points (20-12) to force an Illinois timeout. And Missouri kept swinging, much to the chagrin of Brad Underwood, the Illinois coach who barked instructions to his team while “M-I-Z ... Z-O-U” chants rang out in the crowd.

• Brown scored after gathering an offensive rebound. Underwood let out a scowl. ... 12-0 run
• Hodge poked a ball away, sprinted down the court and drilled a three from the right corner. ... 15-0 run
• Illinois made two free throws, but Sean East answered and then Hodge banked in another three. ... 20-2 run
• Illinois made another free throw, but Hodge answered with a score at the rim, plus a foul. ... 22-3 run

And most importantly, a 17-point lead.

By the time you looked up, the Tigers had held the Illini (8-4) to 0-for-9 shooting while forcing seven turnovers in a span of eight-and-a-half minutes. They would claim a 20-point lead on a DeAndre Gholston bucket, go up 23 on Hodge’s fourth triple of the half and then lead by 26 on a Ronnie DeGray triple. DeGray finished with 10 points in 33 minutes.

Hodge paced the Tigers with 18 points in the first half. Brown chipped in 15 more in that time. The Tigers played 20 minutes of near-flawless basketball, shooting 58.8% from the field and committing only two turnovers. They shot 60% from the field for the game.

Illinois shot 32.1% from the field, 6.7% (1 for 15) from three and gave the ball away nine times in the first half.

A consolation dunk cut the margin to 24 at halftime, but the Tigers had already put a firm stamp on what would become Dennis Gates’ first marquee win with the program — and just in time for the start of SEC play.

Armed with a tough road win at Wichita State, a buzzer-beating finish against UCF at the Orange Bowl Classic and, yes, Thursday’s commanding victory over a top-25 Illinois squad, the Tigers will gear up for a challenging stretch against Kentucky and at Arkansas, both currently ranked in the top 20.

If the Tigers play like they did on Thursday — leading by as many as 26 in the first half and 35 in the second — they’ll have a chance to survive the tough SEC slate and get back to the NCAA Tournament for just the third time since Frank Haith departed the program in 2014.

They might even earn some votes in Monday’s AP Top 25, too.

This story was originally published December 22, 2022 at 10:32 PM.